Roberto's Nightmare: The Rewrite
by Sorrelwing
Summary: As a newborn hatchling, Roberto is loved dearly by his parents and older sister. But as he grows into a young chick, his world is torn apart when he is ripped away from his family and his home, entering a terrible world of human cruelty. Roberto must escape in order to survive, but he must find a way to do so to have any hope of returning to the wild - where he belongs.
1. Welcome to the world

_**Well, here we are - the rewrite. I always cringed, reading the old version - now, I'm back and I'm hoping to create a darker and more serious tone. In my opinion, the original story was... how can I put it? A disappointment? Anyway, this rewritten version will differ in many ways to both the old one and my other story, 'Before Jewel Met Blu', which I also intend to rewrite in future.**_

 _ **Here we go! I hope you enjoy it and find it much more exciting than the previous draft, which I have now deleted.**_

 _ **\- Love, Sorrel**_

The western Amazon was quiet, and the sky was a silver-grey, covered by cloud. While thunder rumbled in the distance and rain fell heavier by the minute, there was nothing sinister about it - at least not in a lone macaw's mind. He was far too happy to be put down by a little bad weather. He was a Spix's macaw - young, around fifteen years of age, with a mop of long, heavy crest feathers hanging around his face. He had so many, he was constantly sweeping them back, but they flew back into his eyes. As he flew swiftly through the rainforest, there was a slight bounce to his flight. Fat, heavy raindrops pattered gently on the broad leaves of the trees, and onto his feathers, but it couldn't dampen his high spirits.

Ramon had not seen others of his kind in a while - he was part of a rare species, after all, but then most Spix's macaws in the Amazon lived in that tribe. Ramon understood what drew them to living in a tribe - safety in numbers, what with the human intruders becoming more frequent. Humans were coming in their huge boats, observing the rainforest with those flashy boxes. These ones usually kept to their boats, but others entered the rainforest. Sometimes it was just more of these boat ones with the flashy boxes, talking excitedly and looking fascinated by just a crazy looking plant, but others weren't like this. They came in their great machines, their monsters - and ate away at the rainforest, taking trees and wrecking havoc, with deadly consequences.

Maybe Ramon and his family would be safer living with their own kind, but tribelife had never appealed to him and his mate, Alessandra. They preferred life alone, where it was much quieter and more serene, while the tribes bickered over territory and foraging rights. Ramon saw it all as complete and utter nonsense - he saw no point in it all. Nobody ever thought of sharing. Anyway, humans rarely came to their area, so it should be safe enough.

Ramon and Alessandra lived in a snug little tree, in the west Amazon. The human city of Manaus wasn't too far away, just a half hour flight, but it wasn't a problem to them. There was no sign of humans anywhere, so the couple had settled, seeing it as a good place to start a family. Ramon's heart warmed as the young tree merged into sight. It was smaller than the surrounding walking palms, a caraibeira, and already, he could hear the happy voice of Talitha. His daughter had been born a few months before, and she was a young teenager. But she wouldn't be his only child for much longer - as Talitha had grown, Alessandra had decided that new siblings would be good for her. This part of the Amazon wasn't inhabited by many families, so Talitha hadn't made many friends. Maybe a sibling could ease the lonely feeling Talitha felt.

A single egg had appeared in the nest - for weeks, Ramon and Alessandra had tended to it with utter most care, keeping it warm and also making sure it wasn't overheated, what with the intense humidity of their rainforest home. It wouldn't be much longer until it hatched - Alessandra was watching the egg like a hawk, excitedly watching for signs of movement, while Talitha always brought extra soft moss and downy feathers for the nesting. They were very protective - they had a special stone to roll over the hollow entrance, whenever a predatory animal was close by. These animals were what they were most afraid of, for they had been effected in the past.

Talitha, contrary to what she had been told, had not been the only egg of her brood. Ramon and Alessandra's first clutch had consisted of two eggs, rather than one. They had both fallen asleep at the side of the hollow, the nest covered and incubated with moss, but they had been awoken by a cracking sound. Alessandra had let out a horrified shriek upon seeing the feline crouched over the nest of eggs. Seeing that it had been caught, the feline, which they believed to be a margay, had turned and fled as Ramon had clawed it's ears, chewing on something as it did.

They had frantically searched the nest, desperate to believe that it wasn't true, but had been unable to find the other egg. After this, they had sworn to protect the egg that had become Talitha, and any other egg they were blessed with. There was no point in telling Talitha - it could be upsetting, and the arrival of the new egg had raised their spirits. They didn't want to ruin anything. The loss of the egg had been a tragedy, but the couple wanted to move on.

Ramon lighted down in the caraibeira, landing a little awkwardly with the vine of acai berries in his talons, letting out a chirp to let his family know he was home. At this, Alessandra's neatly-shaped head popped out from the hollow entrance. She was absolutely gorgeous, the most beautiful Ramon had ever seen. He had fallen for her the moment he had laid eyes on her, with her lovely nature making him fall all the more in love with her. Her glossy feathers were a rich blue, and slightly tinted with teal. Her sea-green eyes were dark and large, framed by lashes of the darkest brown-black, and a wavy collection of feathers fell from the back and sides of her head, almost reaching her shoulders. She always wore a dazzling smile, and today, it was even more happy than usual.

"Ramon, you're just in time! Talitha thinks she saw it move!" Alessandra said, breathlessly, before vanishing. Ramon was confused at first, but then he realized what she meant. He gasped, and rushed into his home, stumbling in his haste. Tossing the acai berries to the side, he hurried to the nest, where Alessandra and Talitha were peering in. Talitha was hopping on the spot, her feathers fluffed with excitement. She was like Ramon - bright blue, lighter than Alessandra, but she had her mother's sea-green eyes. A teenager, over a year old, she reached Alessandra's shoulders. Slim and lightly built, Talitha had long, curling feathers cascading down all sides of her head, but luckily, she hadn't inherited Ramon's feathers that hung over his forehead, so she could see without pushing her feathers away. Delicate facial markings curled around her eyes, and rimmed her beak, identical to her mother's.

"Dad, I swear it moved slightly..." Talitha exclaimed, staring at the white orb. "Look! It just -" she went quiet, and the family became absorbed by watching the moving egg. The whole thing shook; then there was one tiny crack. Another crack emerged from this one, running across the whole surface. Then a tiny area broke into a spider-web-like series of cracks, and something poked through. A little beak.

The beak retreated, and the chick inside seemed to sag, as if exhausted. A single eye, half-open, was seen through the little gap, and the pupil, through a squint, slowly ran over the surroundings as it struggled to adjust to this strange new brightness. Then the chick surged within it's prison, suddenly feeling an urge to break free of it's surrounding shell. This movement was enough - the fragile eggshell shattered, and the hatching squinted up at three blurry outlines for the first time.

When born, hatchlings were featherless - and he was. Not a single feather, except for the bumps under his pale skin, while indicated their presence. They would soon grow, though. Talitha gazed, stunned, at the creature. She had never thought that hatchlings looked like that, but regardless, she loved her new baby brother immediately. Alessandra was shedding tears of joy, while Ramon wore a delighted smile, wings around his mate and now-eldest child. The hatching's eyes had lost their squint, and now he was gazing up at the three macaws with big, blue eyes. He was tiny, and a little miracle, like all hatchlings were.

"Oh, he's gorgeous." Alessandra breathed, blinking away her tears. She scooped up her new son, who immediately snuggled into the thick feathers, where it was soft and warm. Ramon draped a wing around his mate, his eyes fixated on the chick. He looked at Alessandra.

"You name him whatever you like." He murmured, looking excitedly at Talitha, who craned her neck to get a better look at her baby brother. Alessandra, seeing this, held him out, and Talitha took him, gazing down in astonishment. Her mother sat down with a dreamy expression.

"My dear mother was young when she passed on." Alessandra began, softly. "I was only little, but I remember her name - _Roberta."_ She looked up at Ramon and Talitha, before looking back at the chick. "So I'll name her grandson _Roberto."_ Ramon was nodding in approval and admiration.

"It's a good, strong name. Your mother would be proud." Ramon and Alessandra turned to Talitha, to see what she thought of the name.

"Roberto." Talitha repeated, looking down at her brother, who had awakened as Alessandra had said his name. He gazed up at her, with those blue eyes. "I like it." Roberto then, unexpectedly, began to bawl. Talitha winced, holding him at wing's-length, looking mortified, wondering what she had done. Alessandra and Ramon both laughed, amused by the look on Talitha's face, and Ramon took Roberto off her.

"Don't worry, Talitha - you didn't do anything wrong. Hatchlings always cry, because they're hungry or something." Ramon assured her, before remembering the acai berries. He placed Roberto into the nest, where Alessandra continued to coo over him. Talitha looked relieved that she hadn't upset her little brother, and returned to watching over him. Ramon plucked one of the smallest berries of the acai he had brought, before placing it before the chick.

Roberto nudged the berry, wondering what it was for; Ramon picked it up and held it to his beak, and Roberto, getting the idea, took a cautious sample. Then, after realizing it eased the gnawing hunger in his belly, he began eating the acai berries like there was no tomorrow. He ate a few, but with his small stomach, soon slowed as he became full. He then pushed the berries away, and flopped down into the nesting, snuggling into the soft moss and beginning to fall asleep yet again. Unfortunately, it didn't last long - the world outside lit up with lightning, and there was the crash of thunder. Roberto's eyes flew open, and he let out a frightened sqeauk. Alessandra picked him up, cradling him to try and reassure him and ease his fear.

The soothing feathers of his mother was enough to distract Roberto from the terrifying noise, and soon, he felt the pull of slumber. Talitha sat down, gazing happily. The teenager had a baby brother; it was so surreal, and she couldn't wait for him to be old enough to play with her. Even when he was still in his egg, Talitha had vowed to protect him - and now, this determination was even stronger.

Meanwhile, Roberto was confused - he was wondering where all this light had come from, who these huge figures were. His vision was still blurry, but it was getting clearer, and he felt strange and a little vulnerable, without the encasing that he had known since he had developed awareness of his surroundings. But he felt better, out here, and as his senses sharpened, he felt safer. These three figures, whom he were seeing more clearly, seemed to be treating him well - they had fed him, held him with such care. As he saw them all clearly for the first time, Roberto felt a sense of love from each of them, something he returned.


	2. The ground

Roberto peeked over the leaves he was hidden in, his young heart beating swiftly in his chest. He reached up to brush the long feathers out of his eyes, to get a better look at Talitha, from where she was searching for him. Talitha was looking under things and behind them, with a grin on her face. "I know you're around here somewhere, Beto." She said, in a teasing voice. She kept glancing at the leaves that concealed him, seeing the top of a blue head. "You're so bad at this game..." Roberto suppressed a giggle, before realizing that Talitha was coming his way. He crawled away, scuttling across the branch and hiding in more leaves.

Talitha lifted the leaves that had once hidden Roberto. She grinned. "Well. I guess you're better at this game than I thought." Talitha then turned, and vanished. Roberto giggled. _Ha._ But then a head popped up in front of him, and he jumped, with a squeak of surprise. "Gotcha!" His older sister exclaimed, triumphantly, scooping him up into a hug.

"Aw, man! You always win at this game!" Roberto grumbled, looking up at her with annoyed, yet happy, eyes. Roberto was now a few weeks old - while still small and barely reaching half his teenaged sister's height, he had grown considerably since hatching. His feathers had grown too - his wing feathers weren't fully developed yet, not being their full length, but it wouldn't be much longer until he could fly. His feathers were a dark blue, rather like his mother's, only he didn't have her teal hues - his eyes were still pale blue, but he had also inherited Ramon's crest-like feathers. They were long and fell around the back and sides of his head, with a shorter one flicking upwards on the front of his head. While his problem wasn't as annoying as Ramon's, Roberto not having so many around the front, they would still sometimes cover his vision. "Anyway, can you lemme go?"

"Go on, you." Talitha put him down, and Roberto dashed away, headed for the hollow. While it was Alessandra's turn to forage, Ramon had left Roberto in Talitha's care, and he was now napping in the tree, further up in the branches so that he wouldn't be disturbed by the sound of Roberto and Talitha.

"Race you to the hollow!" Roberto challenged, putting on a burst of speed. Talitha gasped, and ran after him to try and catch up, but Roberto was too speedy, and got there before she did. He whirled round, hopping on the spot. "Ha!"

"Unfair race!" Talitha chuckled. "I was further away than you were!"

"Not true!" Roberto insisted, before diving into the entrance. "I'm just going to sleep for a bit, okay?" Talitha rolled her eyes, and sat down, taking one of the coconuts her parents kept in a small pile, and beginning to pick off the hairs off. She adored her little brother - he was so cute, and so bright. He was innocent and sweet, just like all chicks were. He also seemed to have a talent for song, like his family did - Talitha, Alessandra and Ramon had listened to him, when he thought he was by himself. Both their parents had come from musical families and inherited musical talent, which had been passed on to both Talitha and Roberto. She had a lovely voice, but she wasn't as pssionate for music as Roberto was. He loved music and sound - he would be awake throughout the early mornings, listening to the birdsong. He would also just dance around the hollow, singing songs he had written presumably himself, since none of them had heard of songs like the ones he sung. And for his young age, they were pretty good, but his voice was golden already. He was going to have an incredible voice when he grew up, that was clear.

Roberto, meanwhile, didn't go to sleep. After several minutes, he slowly emerged from the tree, and crept along behind Talitha - she didn't notice him, being absorbed in plucking the coconut. Knowing she wasn't looking, Roberto grabbed a vine and slid down it with some trouble. It wasn't as easy as he thought it would be, but as he went further, he sped up, getting the hang of it. He slowly slid toward the forest floor, where the vine dangled a foot off the ground. At the end, he hesitated. He looked up, but Talitha hadn't noticed. After a moment, he let go, and dropped onto the floor for the first time.

Roberto had literally spent all his life in the tree, and the ground looked so strange, he had been dying to see what it was like. Now that he was standing on soil, everything looked huge. He wouldn't be long - just a little while, to see what the ground was like. His parents had warned him that it was dangerous, but he dismissed the idea. It was just the ground, what harm could it do?

Roberto looked around, fascinated by the surroundings - he felt so small amung the towering trees and vegetation, but he didn't feel vulnerable. He just felt amazed. He listened carefully, in case his family started calling him, but heard nothing. He could get back without them ever knowing about his little adventure. His parents seemed incredibly protective, for some reason - while they were kind and pleasant, they were annoyingly over-protective. When Alessandra and Ramon were both there, they fussed over him and watched him like a hawk whenever he left the hollow. Desperate to explore and ease the burning curiosity, Roberto dashed into the ferns, his heart racing with excitement at the feeling of the warm soil under his feet.

Sometimes a rat would scamper across his path; it would stop, stare curiously at the little bird blue bird, and then hop into the bushes. Another thing was the forest quails, who would peck at the ground and not pay him any attention - they were so boring. The ants crawling across the floor were more interesting, in their lines - he tried to follow them to their hills, but lost the trail before he could. Roberto would often see something slithering through the undergrowth, the sun flashing on it's scales - he hadn't known what it was at first, but when he had gone for a closer look, it had been an ugly thing with beady eyes, and a forked toungue, hissing and spitting at him. Remembering his father's stories about snakes, Roberto had made a quick getaway.

His parents had fuelled his head with tales of the outside world - scary stories about predators, most often. Jaguars, Harpy eagles, snakes, venomous spiders - he knew they were just trying to protect him, but he wasn't that scared. He kept his distance, like he had with the snake, but other than that, he wasn't scared of what they told him. He then noticed something black and green, fluttering at the corner of his vision.

A large butterfly, a malachite, by look of it, almost as big as he was, but beautiful. It landed on his beak, it's big wings moving up and down. He froze, amazed by the butterfly's boldness - but he was disappointed when it fluttered into the air, dancing toward the bushes. "Hey, come back!" Roberto exclaimed, running after it. The malachite would sometimes flutter closer, but then it would dart further away again. He kept following it for a full five minutes - he must have been on the ground for at least twenty by now, but he doubted his family had yet realized his absence. His dad was likely still asleep, his mom was probably still out foraging, Talitha wouldn't disturb him if she thought he was napping.

The butterfly suddenly flew upwards - Roberto jumped in a last attempt to get closer, and fell to the floor. He rolled across the sloping ground, bouncing like a piece of fallen fruit - until the slope turned flat. He rolled to a stop, dazed and dizzy by the ride. He groaned, realizing that he had dull pain from bouncing along the floor - then he realized that he was lying before a pair of talons. Slowly, he looked up, wide-eyed. To his surprise, a girl stood above him - a Spix's macaw, like him. She was young, probably as old as he was, maybe a few days younger. She blinked down at him in surprise. Roberto had never seen another member of his species before, except for his family - immediately, he felt a sense of curiosity.

She was fairly small, smaller than he was, due to the fact that she was a female. She had a couple of head feathers on the back of her head, a curling at the ends and almost reaching the top of her neck. She also had large, bright, turquoise eyes, and light blue, fluffy feathers. Roberto was unsure how to react - he had never spoken to a stranger before, especially not a child his age.

"Hi!" She said, in a friendly, cheerful voice. Roberto blinked.

"Er... hi." He said, in a high-pitched voice, quickly scrabbling to his feet. He coughed to try and make his voice sound less squeaky. He was nervous, after all. The bushes behind the girl then shook, and he stepped back, startled - but he was relieved to see two adult macaws instead of something frightening. Like the girl, they were also Spix's.

"Jewel, there you are!" Said one, a short, plump female, looking relieved - then she noticed Roberto, and stopped. She was a shade of cerulean, with short, curling feathers at the top of her head. She had to be around her early twenties at the most - the other female was slimmer, of similar age, and she bore a striking resemblance to the girl, who Roberto assumed was Jewel. She possessed to same turquoise eyes, and she had similar head feathers - her face wasn't a mirror of Jewel, but she had similar features. She was also much darker, almost midnight blue - she had to be Jewel's mother, since they looked so similar. Both of the older females looked warm and friendly, surprised to see the young stranger before them. "Hello." Said the shorter one, in a warm voice.

"Uh, hi." Roberto replied, awkwardly. The two older females exchanged looks, before looking around, as if searching for something. The dark blue female shrugged at her companion, and stepped forward, smiling down at him.

"Are you lost, honey? Where are your parents?" At her question, Roberto turned, expecting to see his home through the trees - but then his heart sank. How far had he gone? He bit his lower beak, and turned back.

"Um... I think I _am_ lost." He admitted. The dark blue female turned back to the shorter one and Jewel, before turning back to him, with a look of kindness and sympathy.

"Okay, we'll help you find your way." She promised. Roberto felt a flash of relief, and trust. The dark blue macaw then proceeded to introduce herself. "I'm Tia. This is my daughter, Jewel -" she looked down at the girl, who beamed up at her mother. -" and this is my sister-in-law, Mimi." She indicated toward the shorter adult female. Tia then turned back to Roberto. "What's your name, sweetheart?"

"I'm -" Roberto began, but then there was an ear-splitting shriek behind him. He jumped, and whirled round - but Alessandra darted past him. Tia cried out at Roberto's mother crashed into her, sending them both flying. To his alarm, Tia was pinned under Alessandra's talons, staring up in confusion and shock.

"What on earth are you doing?" Tia spluttered. Alessandra's feathers were risen, and her talons were wrapped around the other macaw's neck. Jewel shrieked in terror, crying out, struggling against Mimi, who tried to block her from getting nearer to the scene. Roberto felt a wave of humiliation and fear.

"Mom, stop!" Roberto shouted, desperately. Jewel stopped struggling, turning to stare at him in bewilderment.

"This crazy macaw is your _mom?"_ She asked, looking shocked. Alessandra then released Tia, and leapt away, standing between Roberto and the three strangers. Mimi glanced at Alessandra, as if expecting her to attack again, before she ran to her companion.

"Tia, are you alright?" Mimi asked, worriedly, grabbing her wing and helping her to her feet.

"I'm okay, Mimi..." Tia insisted, rising shakily. Jewel, who had been standing and watching anxiously, then ran to Tia, who held her close with her wings. Tia dusted her front, checking Jewel to make sure she wasn't too shaken, before glaring up at Alessandra. Mimi's feathers were bushed, almost as much as Alessandra's were. Roberto looked around his mother, eyes round. Since when was Alessandra like this? She was never hostile - unless, of course, she was just being protective of him. Against what? They hadn't tried to harm him.

"What's your problem?" Mimi demanded, looking outraged. Alessandra was breathing heavily.

"You savages..." She pointed a wingtip at Mimi and Tia. "...are not to go near my son."

"Who are you calling savages?" Jewel asked, eyes narrowed. Roberto felt a rush of admiration - Jewel wasn't afraid of the angry-looking Alessandra, despite being so much smaller and younger. Mimi leaned down, murmuring a word of advice, and Jewel reluctantly stopped talking.

"Mom, they weren't -" Roberto began, but Tia drowned him out.

"We offered to help him home, for your infomation!" Tia protested, looking flustered and angry. "And we are _not_ savages."

"I know who you are!" Alessandra snarled. "You're Eduardo's mate! She's -" she glared at Mimi. "-his sister, and that's his daughter." She narrowed her eyes at Jewel, who glared back with equal hostility. "The family of a tribe leader? You tribes have a reputation for being savages."

"I think you're mistaking us for the Hyacinths." Mimi hissed. She crossed her wings, clearly fuming. "Look, we may get into scuffles every now and then, but it's never our fault, love. It gives you no excuse to attack unprovoked - do you know how much of a bad example you're setting him?" Alessandra made a sound that sounded like a bird's version of a growl.

"Don't you dare question my parenting skills. I bet your kids aren't much better, are they?" Mimi's eyes flashed with anger at the comment.

"I _can't_ have kids. I'm infertile." Mimi muttered. Alessandra then looked briefly guilty, and ashamed of what she had said. She looked away, awkwardly - she looked like she wanted to apologize, but she didn't say a word.

"We're going home, right now. Come on." Alessandra whirled round, and marched forward, grabbing Roberto. He looked over her shoulder, wide-eyed, at Tia, Mimi, and Jewel, who looked disturbed, still. He looked apologetically at them.

"Sorry!" He exclaimed; this was all he got to say before Alessandra wrapped her talons around him, and leapt into flight.


	3. Fall out

Roberto was simmering in silence as his mother carried him back, but he could feel the anger practically radiating off Alessandra. He had tried to talk to her, but she had been silent during the whole flight and it was beginning to scare him. Alessandra was usually the kindest macaw, but Ramon had jokingly warned Roberto that she was like a volcano - she would be quiet for ages and then she'd erupt. Talitha had also mentioned that their mother had a bit of a temper, and a short fuse. It appeared to be true.

He was disappointed that his little endeavour had come to an end, but even more so that those other macaws probably thought less of him now. He had no friends whatsoever - no kids lived around their area, and while Talitha was his sister and he loved her, it wasn't the same, since she was a teenager. She couldn't participate in all games Roberto liked to play, since she was too old to find them entertaining. Roberto didn't have any friends his age - _it sucks,_ he thought.

He could've made a friend in Jewel - but Alessandra had severed that possibility. Jewel would never risk trying to play or socialize with him, after what Alessandra had done to Tia. Those three strangers had been kind - why had his mother freaked out? He'd heard her call them 'tribe macaws' - his parents had told him all sorts of scary stories involving tribe macaws. Maybe this explained his mother's hostility, but if tribe macaws were so bad, why were the three he'd encountered so nice? Maybe those stories had been exaggerated.

The flight home was much faster than his walk - either that or it was because Alessandra was flying so fast. The sky was darkening as evening approached, the sun was sinking lower - as was his mood. He was still annoyed, and getting more nervous as they got closer to home. How would his sister and father react when they learned where he had been? Or did they already know that he had snuck away? He didn't know how his mother had found him, but he assumed she had just heard or seen him in her foraging. He then noticed the little leaf-woven bag, the vine tied around her wing and the bag itself sitting on her back, so that it didn't hit against Roberto as she flew.

Finally, Roberto saw their tree. He expected to see a frantic and angry Ramon and Talitha pacing at the entrance, but instead, all he saw was Talitha. But she was asleep - she hadn't moved from where she had been sitting when he left, a near-hairless coconut lying on the branch next to her, and Roberto remembered seeing her plucking it. Ramon wasn't there either, but as he looked closely near the top of the tree, he caught a glimpse of his father's bright blue plumage. He was _still_ sleeping? Alessandra was going to be furious.

Alessandra flew straight past Talitha, who diidn't stir, being a heavy sleeper. She dropped Roberto, throwing the foraging bag onto the floor with such a force that it split and several nuts rolled onto the floor. She then whirled round, turning and flying straight up, where Ramon had been. "Ramon! Wake up!" Talitha suddenly jolted awake as Alessandra's loud voice sounded from above, in the branches. She blinked in confusion as Alessandra came darting back, landing beside the miserable Roberto.

"Mom? What's going on?" Talitha asked, tiredly. Alessandra shot a frustrated glance at her daughter, waiting impatiently for Ramon. Eventually, a bedraggled Ramon came down, his mop of head feathers frazzled and all over the place, covering his eyes. He looked up, groggily, still half-asleep.

"Well?" Alessandra asked, wings crossed, her eyes filled with sea-green fire. Talitha looked questioningly at Roberto, who didn't provide any help.

"What?" He asked, with a yawn. Alessandra glared at her mate.

"You were supposed to be watching him! Not having a nap!" Alessandra snapped. Ramon blinked in confusion; he looked at Talitha for help, but she just shrugged, not having a clue. Alessandra swept on. "He could've died!" She snarled. Roberto cowered behind them all, ashamed and embarrassed. Ramon continued to look baffled.

"Before you start off, Lessa... what happened? I don't have a clue what you're -"

"He was on the ground, nit-wit!" Alessandra barked, throwing her wings up into the air. "He was being confronted by _tribe macaws,_ of all things!" This woke both Ramon and Talitha up. They both looked gob-smacked, turning to stare down at Roberto. He stood there, wings crossed, in silence.

"You silly -" Talitha spluttered, staring down at him in horror. She turned back to her mother, with round eyes. "Was he okay? What -"

"And you, young lady!" Alessandra narrowed her eyes. "Not that he should've been in the first place, but you should've kept an eye on your brother, while Ramon was asleep!"

"Hey, you know I have sleeping problems!" Ramon protested. "Are you seriously blaming me?"

"Mom, it was my fault!" Roberto interrupted, with frustration. "Don't blame everyone else..." He regretted speaking, for Alessandra then turned on him.

"You know how dangerous it is down there, Roberto!" Alexandra retorted, towering over him with blazing eyes. "Especially with these tribe macaws lurking around!" She looked at her mate and daughter. "It was Tia, Mimi, and that daughter of Tia's." She then turned back to him. "You could've been killed!"

"For the last time, they were friendly - the daughter was my age! I don't see how dangerous she was, and besides, those other two were really nice! I could've made a friend!" Roberto hoped that his parents would understand. But their expressions did not change.

"A friend? That girl is the offspring of two tribe leaders. She's probably as nasty as her parents." Ramon snorted in disbelief, now taking Alessandra's side. They were turning on him, now - all their anger was directed at him. Understandable, but Alessandra was throwing this whole thing out of proportion, and exaggerating.

"No she wasn't!" Roberto insisted. "This is stupid! You're suffocating, and I can't do a thing on my own! I don't even have any friends - even if kids lived around this area, you wouldn't let me go out to play! It gets so boring, and I'm especially sick of this stupid tree!"

"Enough!" Ramon snapped, cuffing him with a wing. Roberto's feathers bristled, for perhaps the first time in his life. Ramon continued, now looking as angry as Alessandra. "You're never to go on the ground again, especially not with the likes of tribe macaws hanging about. Is that clear?" Roberto didn't utter a word. Ramon's gaze hardened. "Is that clear?" He repeated.

"Perfectly, dad." Roberto muttered. He glowered up at his parents, before turning and storming away, kicking the moss on the branch beneath him as he went. Instead of going into the hollow, he strode straight past it, disappearing into a smaller hole in the tree trunk. He slept here sometimes, and tonight was one of them. There was no way he'd sleep in the same hollow as his parents.

Talitha stared at her mother and father, with mild disgust. She couldn't believe how her parents were acting - as angry at Roberto as she was, Talitha didn't think their harshness was called for. "That was unfair. You were way too hard on him. He's only little - of course he's going to get in trouble." With a huff on annoyance, she trudged into the hollow, muttering under her breath. "He's right, you know. Even I don't have many friends."

"Enough." Said Alessandra, looking exhausted and stressed. She looked up with a tired expression. "Roberto, come out." But he didn't show. Roberto sat in the back of the little hollow, smouldering and sulking in the way chicks did. Tears welled up in his blue eyes, but he didn't cry. It wasn't worth crying over - it was too stupid. He did hate his parents sometimes.

Alessandra and Ramon glanced at each other, feeling regretful moments after Roberto and Talitha left the scene. "Maybe we were a little hard on him." Alessandra admitted, suddenly wishing she could erase the whole argument they had just had. Ramon was trying to look supportive of her actions, but she could tell that he agreed with her words, and he looked regretful himself. "I just... I just freaked out, upon seeing Tia and Mimi so close to him."

"Hey, you were just protecting him. Who knew what they would've done, had you not arrived in time?" Ramon prompted. "Why are you feeling so guilty? Even if they weren't a threat, it's better to be safe than sorry..." his words were ignored, as Alessandra went on.

"I asked Mimi about her mothering skills, just to be intimidating... she then said she can't even have kids. I felt so cruel. And I don't actually think they were being hostile..." Alessandra sat down, wings wrapped around her knees. She felt a great sense of shame. "I just didn't think. I judge tribe macaws because of what happened to my mother..." Alessandra felt a wave of sadness at the memory, of her mother returning, fatally injured as a result of a fight with a tribe patrol. She didn't even know if Spix's macaws had been behind the attack - her bleeding mother had staggered through the hollow entrance, gashes on her body, horrifying Alessandra and her five siblings. Their father had desperately tried to save her, while asking what had done it - she had managed to say that it had been tribe macaws, but these had been her last words. Ramon's worried face had softened with sympathy.

"Come on. Let's not get upset over something like this." Ramon wrapped a gentle wing around her shoulders, in comfort. "Roberto'll be fine in the morning - all kids do it. They get upset, sulk, and they're happy the next day, you'll see."


	4. Change of routine

Roberto lay in the small hollow, still smouldering. He could hear the concerned whispers of his parents in the main hollow, but he blocked them out. He didn't want to hear it. He couldn't believe Ramon had cuffed him with his wing. It was like a painless and gentle slap, but still, it had been embarrassing. Parents often cuffed misbehaving chicks, and Roberto had hated it.

He wanted to cry. He was so embarrassed, so frustrated. He tried to calm down, find a way to lessen his burning anger. His heart slowed a little at the thought of singing. He loved to sing - it was something he did best. Roberto had thought of many songs by himself, humming the tunes and singing the lyrics when nobody was in earshot. He began murmuring a few lyrics under his breath, since his family was next door. It was a song about his home - somewhat depressing. "The walls... are closing in. The tree is getting old... I want to do something... so I can escape and never be told... what to do -" _That was just awful._ He needed to improve on thinking of lyrics on the spot.

Roberto lay in his nest for some time, trying - and failing - to fall asleep. He tossed and turned, moved from one side of the hollow to the other, but he still couldn't fall into the comforting world of slumber. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the moon had moved considerably across the sky. Then a shadow passed over the patch of moonlight that streamed in, and he stiffened upon hearing a gentle tapping. "Knock knock." Talitha's soft voice sounded from outside, and he felt relieved. Roberto looked up, and saw his teenaged sister's sympathetic expression. "Can't sleep?" She asked, and Roberto shook his head miserably. There was a pause, and she frowned. "Are you okay, Robbie?"

"Fine." He replied, stiffly. He didn't want to seem horrible in front of Talitha, but he couldn't help it. His angry face wouldn't change, and nor would his mood. Talitha clearly didn't believe him. She held out her wings. Roberto hesitated, but then he found himself leaping to his feet, out of the hollow and jumping into his sister's warm wings. He couldn't resist a hug, especially not from Talitha. Her hugs felt special.

"That was quite a show back there." Talitha said, glancing at the hollow. The snores of Ramon and soft breathing of Alessandra was heard - they were both asleep. Roberto looked at his talons.

"Not my fault." He muttered, bitterly. Talitha sighed. She turned, gazing out of the tree. Darkness had been cloaked over their home, the clouds incredibly low. She suddenly had an idea - she knew how to cheer up her sorrowful looking brother. "Hop on my shoulders, Roberto - hold on tight." Roberto, confused, briefly wondered why his sister had made this request, but obeyed, clambering onto Talitha's back, holding on quite tightly.

"We can't go long - we'll only be a few minutes!" Then Talitha threw open her wings, and then she leapt off the branch. Roberto sqeauled, and screwed his eyes shut - then they were going straight up, Talitha's powerful wings flapping. Then it registered in his mind: they were flying.

Roberto clung to Talitha, heart fluttering with excitement. He looked over his shoulder in awe - the last thing he saw was their tree, shrinking, before Talitha flew into the low clouds and they were surrounded by greyish-white. He gasped, feeling blind, but it felt phenomenal. When his mother had carried him home yesterday, he had been too angry to think about the feeling of flight. Now his mind was focused on it - of course this wouldn't be as thrilling as the real thing, when he flew alone. But it was still pretty amazing - the soft breeze ruffled his long head feathers, sweeping them out of his eyes. Since clouds were made of water, it felt damp as they flew, but now the cloud was thinning, the air already cooling.

Then the clouds vanished. An onyx sky stretched above, studded with stars. A half-moon hung overhead, gleaming like a white diamond. Talitha looked over her shoulder, smiling at the look of awe and delight on Roberto's little face. "Hold on - I'll do a few tricks." Roberto's grasp tightened, and he wrapped his wings around his sister's neck to stop himself falling. He was both nervous and excited as Talitha picked up speed.

Talitha rolled and flipped, as well as making fancy twists and turns. Sometimes she would fly dazzlingly fast, or do a complex loop. Roberto clung onto her all the while, trying not to scream in fear or joy. He felt both - if he felt this just on his sister's back, how would it feel like to fly alone? "Sorry bro, we gotta head back before mom and dad notice we're gone." Roberto suddenly felt disappointed - it was over already. "Hang on!" Talitha then said. "Seriously, you'll have to hold on tightly for this." Talitha suddenly folded her wings, and began diving. Roberto gasped, heart leaping into his throat, clinging onto his sister like there was no tomorrow.

"You're crazy, Talitha!" He cried, as the wind whipped through his feathers, his heart beating like a drum, his stomach lurching. They plunged into the cloud, surrounded by a sea of white, but Talitha didn't stop. Her wings were still firmly folded at her sides. Suddenly, the cloud vanished, and the tree tops were right beneath them. Talitha suddenly threw out her wings, and Roberto was relieved as she flew normally again. "Don't ever do that again!" He gasped, but Talitha didn't stop laughing until they reached home.

 _Morning_

Roberto emerged from the little hole, trying to remain unheard. He was far too happy for an awkward encounter with his parents after the events of last night - he was still angry with them, despite the fun outing Talitha had treated him to. He was just too happy for them to interrupt his mood. He hadn't slept much before Talitha had knocked, but after the flight, he had slept much more soundly.

He stood on the edge of the branch, feeling the urge to stretch out his wings and fly out over the rainforest, see the great river for the first time. The tree was too short for him to see the river, with trees towering above theirs. He couldn't wait to learn how to fly, to soar over the treetops and see them fade into the distance, to see the glimmer of sunlight on the surface of the river. Talitha's flight last night had been a terrific ride, but she hadn't flown too far, what with their parents, and it had been too dark for him to pick out the river.

He didn't have much longer to wait - his wing feathers were almost fully grown, and he thought that it wouldn't be much longer than a week - or even a few days - to go. If he was honest, he couldn't wait to leave home. Of course he'd see his parents and Talitha, but he had been telling the truth yesterday when he had said that he was sick of the tree. It was just a little small.

Roberto then heard a rustle behind him, and turned to see Ramon. He stiffened. Ramon gave him a small smile. "Hey, buddy." Roberto turned away, sitting down on the branch edge. Ramon sighed, and walked toward his son, sitting down next to him and trying to flip his troublesome mop from his eyes, without success. Eventually, he managed to push a few back, to see. "Roberto, how are you?" He did his best, trying to sound kind. Roberto still didn't reply, wings firmly crossed. After a few moments, he formed words.

"You and mom were unfair last night." Roberto said, finally. Ramon had been dreading this - he thought that most chicks forgave quickly, but his son was different. He sighed again.

"I know - and I'm sorry. So is your mom... she has a real problem with tribe macaws, after what they did to her mother. We told you about Roberta, didn't we?"

"I know." Roberto said, glumly, thinking of the grandmother he was named for, the story his mother had told him when he had asked about his name. Alessandra had explained about how Roberta had met her end, which was where she had forbidden him from interacting with tribe macaws. "But Roberta didn't say whether it was their tribe that did it."

"True, but we can't take any chances." Ramon reminded him, gently. "Cheer up, Roberto - we're really sorry. Can't you forgive us?" Roberto considered in his mind. He still didn't think that Jewel, Tia and Mimi had been dangerous, but his parents had only been protecting him. Ramon then held his wings out, and Roberto then felt a wave of forgiveness. He leapt upwards, hugging his father. "Love you, buddy." Ramon said, with a smile. "Why don't you go see your mom? Me and her are going out in a minute, and she'll love a hug before we leave."

Roberto let Ramon go, bounding into the hollow. Both Alessandra and Talitha looked up, surprised at his appearance. "Roberto, are you -" Alessandra began, expecting him to look miserable - instead, he ran up and hugged her. She looked up at Talitha in surprise, who smiled at her mother. Alessandra felt a wave of relief, scooping Roberto up and enveloping him in her wings. She had been afraid that he wouldn't have forgiven her. She put him down, where he continued beaming at her. He still loved her, even after last night - she was incredibly relieved. "Oh, honey - I'm so glad you're feeling brighter now."

"I'm sorry, mom." Roberto apologized. Alessandra leaned down, and gave him a kiss of the top of the head.

"Don't apologize. You're young, and we overreacted." She assured him. Alessandra then glanced at Ramon and Talitha. "You know what? Let's all go out, all four of us."

"What?" Talitha asked, in surprise - and excitement. A family outing? That never happened. She rarely left the tree, so she hadn't seen a lot of their rainforest surroundings.

"Really?" Roberto squeaked, leaping up with a bolt of energy. Ramon too looked surprised at his mate's suggestion. When did she ever suggest that? Alessandra, meanwhile, was hoping to improve her relationships with her son and daughter. She knew Talitha was still thinking about last night's argument, as was Roberto - she had to do something about it. Taking them on an extended expedition of the Amazon they lived in would heal all their problems, she was certain.

"Why not?" Alessandra said, with a smile.

"Wait - what about me?" Roberto looked at his wings.

"I'll carry you, little brother." A pair of wings picked him up, lifting him until Roberto was sitting between Talitha's shoulder blades. He felt a thrill of excitement - it was going to be fun, and there was no reason for them not to go, now.

"Well, it's settled, then - let's go!" Ramon turned excitedly toward the entrance, beckoning Talitha. She hopped outside, with Roberto clinging onto her shoulders. Alessandra hesitated before following her family - was this really a good idea? She felt strange - almost uneasy. She had a bad feeling. Then she shook her head. This was ridiculous - this area was safe, and nothing bad was going to happen. Fluffing up her feathers, she flew outside, following Ramon, Talitha and Roberto.


	5. Sparks

Roberto sat on Talitha's back, looking around with a fascinated expression. He was slightly disappointed that they were flying so slow - their parents constantly reminded Talitha to go slowly, what with Roberto, but when they weren't looking she would put on a quick burst of speed or do a twist, to his delight.

On the way, Ramon and Alessandra had told them a few things - the best fruit groves, the animals, and the places to avoid, which included the central Amazon, where the tribes lived. As usual, they again told them about the dangers of the tribes. Roberto, however, didn't listen. He didn't believe a word of it.

Alessandra kept looking over her shoulder to make sure that Roberto and Talitha were still behind them - it was getting annoying, but Roberto knew it was because she was being protective. He'd probably be the same when he became a parent, although he thought that Alessandra was too concerned.

Roberto was in awe as they flew through the rainforest. Despite the sweltering heat and the stuffy air, he loved his home. The gorgeous flowers, the vibrant green leaves, the insects and amphibians that crawled in the trees, all the sounds and bursting colours. But this day seemed different. It was strange - today, the rainforest didn't match the sky. The vegetation was bright and rich, but the sky was dark grey - as though it were about to pour down with rain. Even the birdsong seemed quieter, but maybe that was just the dark sky. Maybe it was going to rain after all, but Roberto didn't care. He loved rain, and besides, he was having too much fun.

Ramon then held out his talon, signalling for them to stop. "Be quiet... you'll have to be unheard." He lighted down on a leafy branch, beckoning them. Alessandra and Talitha, as well as Roberto, landed beside him, eyes following his pointing wing. Down on the ground, Roberto glimpsed a flash of gold, and was mesmerized.

He had never seen a jaguar before, but he knew that this creature was one. The jaguar's movements were like water over stones - fluid, with absolute grace. Her glossy fur was absolutely dappled with black markings, and as she stalked into full view, her tail followed, moving like it had a mind of it's own. The jaguar was very impressive - hard muscles glided under her coat, and her golden, orb-like eyes were filled with intensity at everything she laid eyes on.

But then, behind the jaguar, the bushes shook violently - the graceful silence was broken by the excited, wild sqeauking of cubs. Two came tumbling in the most ungraceful manner, heads-over-tails as they played. The jaguar glanced over her shoulder, ears flicking. One cub was golden like it's mother, while the smaller one was black with just-visible dapples. Roberto frowned, looking quizically at his parents for an explanation.

"That's a melanistic jaguar - it's got a black base rather than gold. A rare trick in the genes." Alessandra explained. "Lovely, aren't they, jaguars? Beautiful until they try to eat you." She then added, flatly. Talitha casted an annoyed look at her mother. She always had to ruin the moment.

The jaguar mother turned again to look at her two cubs, who were still tumbling and playing, making a lot of noise and occasionally tripping her up. She looked somewhat irritated, but there was something soft within her golden eyes as she watched the cubs. She loved her cubs despite their antics, that was clear. The golden one was larger and stronger, always leaping out of range of it's younger, melanistic sibling, who struggled to keep up with it's smaller size. Sometimes the melanistic cub would catch it's sibling, and they would resume to tumbling across the soil. The adult jaguar made a rumbling sound, as if amused by the mischief of her cubs' play, before padding a few feet away.

She leaned down, putting her nose to the ground and beginning to sniff. For a few moments, she slunk across the forest floor with her nose to the ground, likely trying to detect a prey scent. But then something changed. The jaguar mother suddenly froze, and became stiff. She bolted her head up, ears pricked, looking around with bristling fur. Her nostrils were twitching violently - the breeze was now blowing, so she must've scented something.

The jaguar mother made a small feline growl, to communicate with her cubs. The two cubs immediately stopped playing, glancing up at her, listening. The golden cub suddenly bounded to it's mother's flank, scrabbling up and crouching between her shoulders, fur fluffed up, claws dug into the thick fur of it's mother. The mother leaned down, fastening her jaws into the small, melanistic cub's scruff and lifting it off the ground. The melanistic cub squeaked in protest, but eventually accepted that he was going to be carried. The jaguar spun round, and bolted away, plunging into the bushes, her two cubs with her.

The Spix's macaw family stood there, confused by the strange, sudden behaviour change of the jaguar. Roberto blinked, glancing at his parents and sister for help, but none of them provided any for some moments.

"Did she seem afraid of something to you?" Talitha asked, nervously, turning to look at her parents. Ramon was quiet, lost in thought, while Alessandra looked fearful almost immediately.

"Maybe we should head back." Alessandra suggested, biting her lower beak. "It looks like it's going to rain, anyway..."

"Are you serious? She probably just scented another jaguar, and wanted to get away, so her cubs would be safe." Ramon insisted, confidently. Alessandra looked up, and narrowed her sea-green eyes.

"And you can scent jaguar, can you?" She asked, in a sarcasm-laced voice. Talitha looked over her shoulder, at Roberto, and then they both glanced between their parents. Ramon hated sarcasm - he found it intimidating. And now he was looking at his mate with narrowed eyes, like how she was looking at him. Roberto and Talitha both sensed tension between their parents, and Talitha actually took a step back.

"Alessandra, I just think the jaguar scented something that wasn't threat to us." Ramon said, clearly trying to steer away from an argument. But Alessandra was unconvinced. Her wings were crossed.

"It's not safe out here, Ramon. This was just a huge mistake, we never should've gone out."

"Mom, dad, please don't fight -" Talitha attempted to smooth the conflict, but she was ignored. Ramon shot back at Alessandra.

"Alessandra, have you ever considered that you're over-protective?" He asked, stretching out a wing to indicate toward their two children. "Talitha's a teenager, she won't be staying with us for much longer. She needs to make friends, and so does Roberto. They practically have no social lives, because of you -"

"Are you questioning my parenting skills?" Alessandra spat, with outrage. As his parents continued arguing, Roberto saw something through the trees. A powerful wind blew, and he blinked at what he saw. It was a bizarre sight, but it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Through the waving vines, Roberto saw a flash of hard yellow. It was too bright to be natural - streaked with mud, and it's body was making a strange, repetitive 'beeping' sound. His parents and sister, so focused on the quarrels, had not noticed. The yellow creature had unbelievably large feet - rounded paws, brown from mud but visible black patches showing it's true colour. They extended from the front of the monster, tearing into the trees and vegetation, and ripping them from their roots. Creatures on two legs walked around it, brandishing shining, moving blades with serrated teeth, all making terrible sounds. Then Roberto saw more of the yellow monsters, through the trees - doing the same, hungrily ripping away at the jungle. It was wrong, he knew that, and Roberto felt his head feathers spiking, something he did when he was angry or scared.

He should warn his family. Roberto had just opened his beak, but then the sounds of the monster and it's two-legged minions were heard. Birds leapt from their hollows, looking around wildly - then chaos erupted as they noticed the creatures coming their way.

"Humans!" Screeched voices from every angle. From the trees, birds came flying, wildly, for their lives. Many were carrying chicks and eggs, screaming in pure terror. Ramon and Alessandra stopped arguing, to turn and see the commotion. Talitha glanced up - then Roberto's parents and sister shrieked, both at the sight of the two-leggeds, the huge yellow creature, and what was flying their way. A huge flock of birds flew directly at them, desperate to escape, not caring if someone blocked their path. Roberto heard Alessandra shrieking, heard Ramon calling his mate and children's names. Comets flew around him, feathered darts - then Roberto felt one crash into him. He was knocked clean off Talitha's back, and found himself plunging toward the forest floor. Frantically, he flapped his wings - but he wasn't ready to fly yet. He was going down.

Roberto floundered uselessly through the air; where was his family? As he fell, he realized that all three of them had vanished from the branch they had perched on once before. Branches rained down around him, and more trees were crashing to the ground. A squawk sounded from nearby, before it was abruptly cut off. Then Roberto felt a jolt, and felt pain shooting through his back as he landed on the floor. He was briefly stunned by the impact of the fall, and it took him a few moments to regain his senses.

Eventually, Roberto managed to get his body to move. He rolled onto his side, and pushed off the ground with his wings. He sat up, into a slouched position, his crest feathers covering his eyes. Blinded, he pushed them back, and looked around in a daze. The rumble of the yellow monsters was now filling his ears, the odd hissing of the machines the two-leggeds carried. He didn't know where they were, but the trees before him were no longer standing. They were slowly sloping down, moving slowly toward the forest floor by the second, while others had already fallen. The yellow machines and the two-leggeds set to work on the fallen trees, doing things he couldn't see. But they weren't moving forward. The fallen trees blocked the paths of the yellow monsters, so he had some time. Roberto's heart thudded wildly in his chest, as he realized that he couldn't see his family. His father. His mother. His sister.

"Talitha!" He cried, feeling panic rising as he imagined various scenarios in which his family were gone. "Mom! Dad!" Roberto sprang to his feet, and looked around wildly. He was surrounded by forest debris, and he was tiny, lost within it as more trees fell.

"Roberto!" He was relieved to hear Talitha's voice. He whirled round, eyes wide. There she was, a few metres away, emerging from a pile of branches, a look of horror on her face. Closer to Roberto, Alessandra rose from behind a fallen tree, with a dazed expression. Roberto waited for Ramon to appear - he expected his father to emerge beside Alessandra, or out from behind some vegetation. But he didn't. He waited for a few more moments. But Ramon didn't.

"Dad." He whispered to himself.

"Roberto!" Alessandra cried out, seeing that her son was safe. She and Talitha started fighting their way through debris to reach him. Roberto locked eyes with his mother and Talitha, unable to move, paralyzed with terror at the thought of what had happened to Ramon. He was vaguely aware of a weird sound coming from a nearby tree - it was like a hissing.

Roberto turned his head to locate the source of the sound. He was looking at the base of a nearby tree trunk, where a two-legged was running away from it, swiftly. The tree base was wrapped in something red - red individual blocks on a thing that resembled a thin vine. At the end of this vine, a trail of sparks was travelling up it, creeping toward the red blocks. Alarm bells went off in his brain. He had no idea what the red blocks were, but he knew that they didn't belong there. It was all terribly wrong.

Alessandra too heard the hissing. She whipped round, and felt her blood run cold as she saw what was wrapped around the tree base. She knew what was going to happen. "Run!" She screeched to Talitha and Roberto. Talitha turned to look at her mother, and then she saw it. She didn't think. Talitha screamed, and turned, scrambling over forest debris and beginning to flap her wings. Roberto, however, was still frozen. He couldn't move. "Roberto!" Alessandra shrieked, as the sparks reached the end of the vine.


	6. Alone

Roberto only saw the start of the explosion, for something blue had dived in front of his vision. But he heard it. The most ear-shattering noise he had ever heard, a sound that made the ground shake - at least for a few milliseconds, he felt the ground move, for the explosion sent him flying off the ground. Roberto floundered through the air, several metres, until he crashed to the ground, rolling over several times before he stopped. He lay there in a daze, his world spinning.

His ears felt odd - it was like he was submerged in water, hearing sound through that. Then an unbearable ringing sounded in his ears, and Roberto's beak parted in a silent cry of pain and discomfort. At that moment, Roberto realized that all sorts of debris was falling around him. He frantically covered his head as splinters rained down, and the smell of burning filled the air, yet there were no flames. The tree began to groan, and soon it was crashing toward the ground. It didn't fall in his direction, but the ground shook once again as it hit the forest floor. He watched, horrified, as it crashed, sending debris flying. The broken trunk was black from the explosion.

Roberto covered his ears, hoping to block the horrible ringing sound - then he remembered. He envisioned the blue blur that had intercepted the gap between himself and the explosion. It had been dark - but it was tinted with a colour he knew so well. Only Alessandra had teal-tinted feathers.

"Mom!" Roberto shrieked, scrambling back toward the place he had stood before. He climbed up some branches, which blocked his way. But as he scrabbled over them, he saw Alessandra. She was lying on her side, curled in agony around something, her wings covering it in an attempt to conceal what lay beneath. But red was seeping through her feathers - Roberto had seen the wooden shards flying. For a few moments, Alessandra was still. But then he saw her chest rise and fall, shakily. Alessandra moved slightly, and he felt a rush of relief.

"Roberto..." She whispered. Roberto ran to her side, falling to his knees at her head. Alessandra opened her eyes, which were glazed with pain. "You're safe. Thank goodness." Then, behind Roberto, she saw the machines move. They had finished clearing their path - they were continuing their rampage. They were directly in it's path, and if they didn't move, they were going to die. "Roberto, help me... help me get up." Alessandra staggered to her feet, never moving her wings from her stomach. She couldn't let Roberto see the horror beneath. Roberto gasped, and ran forward, supporting her at her side, before Alessandra looked for a way out. They had to move, now.

Alessandra began stumbling toward the side bushes, where the machines weren't headed, pulling Roberto with her. She felt her head go light, felt more blood leaking from the deep wound in her stomach. She had pulled out the wood shard moments ago, but this had made it worse, as this had only caused more bleeding. She was losing so much blood, and now she couldn't think properly. She tried not to think about it.

After a few agonizing moments, they were finally in the safety of the rainforest that still stood. Roberto began to slow down, but Alessandra kept telling him to run faster, so he did. Roberto clung to her wing, this time leading her - Alessandra was slowing down. Alessandra stumbled behind him, struggling to keep up, constantly tripping over roots and stones. She thought she had enough strength to continue - but she could feel it ebbing away. Then Alessandra felt her knees shake, and then she realized that she could go no further. She let go of her son, and buckled, before she crashed heavily to the forest floor, rolling several times until she stopped, on her side again. Roberto realized that she was no longer holding onto him, and skidded to a halt. He whirled around, and raced to her side. He stared, stunned, as Alessandra began to shake violently. What was happening?

"Mom..." He pleaded. "Please... please get up." Alessandra continued to shake, and then she looked up with begging eyes, a desperate expression, something he had never seen on her before. She was weeping silently.

"Your... your father. Your sister." She sounded pleading. She was desperate to know. Roberto began trembling. He didn't know where Ramon was - nor Talitha. The last he had seen of Talitha, she had been flying away from the explosion, screaming in terror. As for Ramon... he had no clue. He didn't want to tell her the truth, nor could he find it in his heart to lie to her.

"I don't know." He said, in a small voice. Alessandra's heart shattered at these words. She closed her eyes, and he saw the tears seeping through her eyelids. She tried to keep them away - she couldn't let Roberto get upset, seeing her like this. She had to tell him this before she was too weak to say anymore.

"My dear son. I need you to know something." Alessandra's breath had become shallow and rapid, and she knew that she didn't have much time left.

"What is it?" He asked, his heart beginning to race.

"That I'm sorry. I've just been so protective of you and your sister, and I haven't allowed you both to be free. I've controlled you both by keeping you in that stupid hollow... but I've been a terrible mother to you and Talitha, and I don't know if either of you can forgive me..."

"Mom!" Roberto gasped. "Don't be silly, you're an amazing mother, and I love you so much - no matter what." Alessandra blinked, and began to cry even more - tears of joy at hearing these words. She felt a rush of warmth, and began again.

"You need to know how proud I am of you, and Talitha. That I love you, so much... more than my own life." Every word was the pure, honest truth. Alessandra sighed. "If you find your sister... tell her what I said."

"What? You'll... you'll be there to tell her yourself. You'll be alright..." Roberto was desperate to believe that it was true. Alessandra shook her head.

"No. I won't. Look, Roberto..." Alessandra shook yet again. "You have to know that I'll always be with you..." Alessandra closed her eyes, and then her head fell to the floor as she murmured the final words. "Even if you can't see me."

"What are you talking about?" Roberto asked, confused. "I can always see you." Alessandra didn't respond. She just lay there, eyes closed. Roberto blinked. He didn't understand. "Mom? You can't... can't fall asleep." There was still no reply. She lay there still, a thin bead of blood now running from her beak. The realization crept in. "Mom? Mom!" Roberto desperately shook her. But then his efforts slowed down as it dawned upon him. "Mom..." his voice faded. For a few moments, he stood there in silence, too shocked to do anything. Then a warm sensation came to his eyes. His vision blurred, and then the tears started falling down his cheeks.

Roberto suddenly leapt to his feet, and stumbled away from Alessandra, unable to look at her any longer. "I'm sorry!" He wailed. Without thinking, he turned, and ran, weeping as he did. His vision was blinded by tears, and roots kept tripping him up, but he didn't care. He just had to get away from her - away from her lifeless body, her blood which was rapidly drying on his feathers.

Roberto didn't know how long he had been running. But by now, he heard the rumble of thunder, felt the occasional drop of rain from the grey sky. The forest was absolutely silent - as silent as death. He was so distracted he didn't say what lay in his path.

Roberto didn't see the trap that lay ahead. But then he felt the material underneath his talon; he felt it tightening around his ankle. Roberto cried out as he was whipped up into the air, the world blurring as he flew upwards. Then he was dangling upside-down, looking at the forest floor, hanging in midair.

The next few moments were a blur. Roberto heard cheering and laughter - but they weren't that of a bird. He gasped as something severed the vine-like thing that had caught him by the ankle - then he was falling, straight into an open bag, and then he was plunged into darkness. Roberto was then jostled along as his carrier moved, and Roberto squawked in panic, fighting against the walls, desperate to escape. He struggled and writhed, unable to see - then he was thrown against a hard wall, and he heard something slam shut. Roberto struggled violently, fighting against the brown material, before he saw an opening. He threw the bag off him, only to find himself surrounded by silver bars with tiny gaps.

Roberto was surrounded by more containers - cages - like his own. They were all cramped together. The cages were filled with various animals - monkeys, birds, even snakes and amphibians in clear, transparent boxes. Every animal was howling mournfully, screeching, struggling against their prisons in desperation. Roberto stared, shocked and horrified by his surroundings. Maddened animals were around him - one lay there, wings around it's knees, rocking violently, while another was throwing itself at the cage walls, shrieking wildly. It was dark, the walls a black-brown and made of a material he failed to recognize. The smell of dust was choking and overpowering.

Suddenly, they began to move. Roberto was flung to the ground as they all started moving together - a rumbling sound filled his ears, like the sounds that had come from the machines. The sound of two-leggeds was heard under the terrified howls and shrieks of the animals, all laughing and sounding sickeningly pleased with themselves. They sounded so _happy,_ while the animals were having a meltdown in the back.

Roberto was so confused - everything had happened too fast for him to think clearly. But then he forgot his surroundings, and remembered. Ramon, Talitha, Alessandra. His family. All dead. Roberto stayed there, curled up on the hard floor, not trying to figure out where he was, where he was going. All he saw was his family. Suddenly seeing his mother's dried blood on his talons and wings, Roberto froze. Desperately, he tried to get rid of it - he rubbed it frantically, but he didn't have any water. It was hopeless, and he knew he was going to start crying.

The confusion and devastation was too much for him - Roberto passed out as the tears began.


	7. Into the city

Roberto had not moved from the cage floor, even when his cage had been picked up and moved. He wouldn't have seen where he was regardless - his prison had been cloaked with a black material, engulfing him in darkness. They had been in the machine - which he'd heard a worried capybara call a truck - for several hours, before it had slowed to a stop. Then light had poured into his eyes, but Roberto hadn't seen the outside before they had covered his cage.

The animals were now silent, likely in troubled sleep. But Roberto couldn't sleep at all. He had been sobbing his heart out, ignoring the occasional mutter of 'Shut up' from a fellow prisoner. Roberto was still curled up in a tight ball, wings and talons huddled close, his tears never slowing down. _My dad. My mom. Talitha..._

Roberto could not get the image of his mother out of his mind. Alessandra had been in a position very much like how he was now - curled up on her side, wings and talons pulled close. Blood had continued to leak through her wing feathers, from a wound he suspected was on her stomach - he had never seen the full wound. Her eyes had been closed - never again would he see her sea-green eyes. Never again would he see Ramon's amusingly troublesome mop of crest feathers, nor would he see Talitha's smile.

A question was repeating in his mind. Despite never seeing Ramon's body, Roberto knew, in his heart, that his father had perished. But then he envisioned Talitha, flying away and shrieking. Was it possible that she had escaped? Then Roberto shook his head. Who was he kidding? Of course she was gone. She had to be.

Roberto was sure that his tears had formed a patch of water on the floor - they had left damp trails on his cheeks, and he had dents in his feathers from lying on the floor for so long. A stiffness had set into his bones, from a combination of not moving and for the cage floor being uncomfortable and cold. He had to get up, so Roberto tried to find the will to do so. He groaned as he slowly sat up, leaning heavily on the wall and using the bars to pull himself up. Roberto clung to them, afraid to let go in case he collapsed again.

 _I feel hopeless._ It was absolutely true. His family was gone, he was on his own in who knew where - his situation was dark. And Alessandra's blood stains were still in his wings. He couldn't get rid of it - there was no water in the cage, and speaking of, he was feeling the dehydration creeping in. His beak felt like it was filled with sand - dry. And the hunger was gnawing in his belly, so intense it made him feel sick. He would have been, had his stomach had something in it. But he hadn't eaten since last night - in the excitement of the morning routine change, they hadn't stopped to eat breakfast. Desperate to forget what had happened, and feeling an urge to know where he was, he took the bottom of the black sheet and lifted it.

It was almost pitch black - it would have been had it not been for a gap on the higher wall, where hard light poured in. The sound of laughter and music was audible but faint, blocked by the transparent sheet that filled the wall gap. Occasionally, the feet of two-leggeds would pass, and Roberto felt a rush of terror. Then he remembered the word being said before, the one birds had shrieked as the machines had arrived. _Humans._ Then Roberto recalled the scary stories his parents had told him about 'Humans' - tales of trees being obliterated, of humans slaughtering jaguars just for their pelts and stealing baby monkeys away from their mothers. Setting vile traps, like the metal teeth that closed on an unsuspecting animal's leg, or luring them into a hidden cage...

Roberto shakily rose to his feet, and suddenly the cage beneath him jolted and swayed. He seized the bars, falling backwards, as he realized that his cage was hanging on a hook, suspended from a long chain. Wiping his still-teary eyes, he told himself to pull himself together. He had to stop crying, no matter how upset he felt.

Careful so not to rock the cage, Roberto pulled the edge of the sheet back up, to look around once again. In one corner, there were some steps leading up to a rectangle in the wall - he remembered hearing 'Door'. On the floor, there were many cages - many empty, but others had animals. Birds, reptiles, amphibians, other Amazon animals - all stacked in cages. A million questions entered his mind - who had they been captured by? He stiffened at the thought of poachers, but this was incredibly likely. Who else would want dozens of exotic animals?

Roberto tried to find an escape. He gnawed desperately at the bars, and tried to figure out how to open the cage door - but a lump of metal stopped it being opened. Roberto then slid down the wall, onto the floor again, as he realized that it was pointless. He was trapped. Roberto began to cry, yet again. He didn't care about the muttering animals in the room, didn't care that he was humiliating himself. He was going to die, surely. He found comfort in this thought - he'd be with his family again, wouldn't he?

But then he wiped his tears. He couldn't give up - his family wouldn't want that. They'd want him to live.

At that moment, there was a creaking sound, and Roberto grabbed the edge of the sheet to look. Suddenly, the animals jolted awake, and sank into the darker corners of their cages, in deathly, terrified silence. A human was walking down the steps, a box in it's hand. The box had a flickering flame, which casted a light around the dark room. Roberto sank to the back of the wall, praying that the human wouldn't come his way. But through the lifted sheet, he saw the human suddenly change direction, and walk straight at him. Suddenly, the sheet was torn off of the cage, and the box of light was thrusted upwards, right near his face. Roberto stumbled, blinded briefly, before squinting upwards. His big blue eyes then widened, as the human's face loomed at the cage bars.

He was grinning with his yellow, as well as blackening teeth, and Roberto almost choked at the vile smell of his breath. It smelt like smoke, and ash, but even more acrid. A sour, bitter smell was also present, making Roberto's stomach lurch. Then, to Roberto's horror, the human reached up, and seized the top of his cage, lifting it off the hook. Roberto was thrown to the floor as the human then made for the door, carrying his cage with him. He tried to stand, but the human wasn't taking care while carrying it - he kept falling over. Then they were heading up the steps, and then yellow light hurt his eyes as the door was thrown open.

Roberto didn't arise from his place on the floor until the human placed his cage onto a large, wooden thing on four legs. He peered, trembling, out of the cage, terrified to see where he was. They were in a small, cramped room where objects took up most of the floor. A female human sat on the left, and Roberto smelt the acrid smoke he had observed from the male human's vile breath. He then spotted the source; it looked like a twig, but it was grey-white at the end, a trail of smoke rising from it. Metal cylinders, broken and twisted, covered a smaller platform between her and a box - the human's eyes were glued to it, which showed moving pictures. Roberto blinked in confusion - this was all so alien to him. The box showed a sandy floor, with a large net stretching from one side to the other. Four female humans were on the sand, two on each side of the net, hitting a ball from one side to the other. Screaming humans - hundreds of them - were crowded around in stands.

"Come and watch the volleyball!" Shouted the female, in a raucous voice. Roberto flinched at the sound of her. She sounded hoarse, and he had a feeling it was something to do with the smoking twig she was inhaling.

"I can't, I gotta take this bird to my brother." Replied the male, who was searching for something. The female sighed, and turned around, rolling her eyes.

"Are you sure about giving him this one? We don't know what it is, it could be worth something. I mean, the truck for the other animals arrives tomorrow..."

"Come on Renata, it's just a little blue bird - like he's gonna be worth a lot." The male chuckled, but Renata looked worried, looking at the little bird in the cage.

"Are you sure it's wise to give him another bird, after what happened to the last one you gave him?" She was frowning with concern.

"Of course it's wise! My brother just needs a little help with money on the stall, and the bird'll help with that." Roberto listened, with incredible fear, barely understanding. So many of these words were foreign to him: volleyball, stall, money? He didn't have a clue what these words meant, but he knew he was in serious trouble. Suddenly, the male human whirled round, grabbing his cage. "I'll be fourty minutes or so, okay?"

"Bye." Renata replied, before twisting around and gluing her gaze back to the box with moving pictures. Then the door slammed, and Roberto saw the outside for the first time. He was immediately curious - but terrified at the same time - at what he saw.

He'd heard Manaus mentioned earlier on. And now that he remembered it, he recalled his parents telling him and Talitha about it. He was surrounded in every direction by mostly brown blocks - buildings, he remembered. The sound of human voices sounded from every direction, loud and hurting his ears, which were still fuzzy-feeling from the explosion hours earlier. The sound of music was present in the background, and he was immediately drawn to the sound, since music was something he loved most. He remembered his mother's lullabies...

Roberto shuddered, and felt the lump rising in his throat, felt the tears threatening. He shook himself, trying to not think about her songs, occupying himself with the surroundings again. Humans swarmed around them, their knees occasionally knocking against his cage. Desperately, he tried to see the rainforest - but found none. Artificial light shone harshly from above, casting unbearable brightness against the black of the sky.

It had been about fifteen minutes before the human finally stopped walking through the swarm of people, and had finally turned toward a building. Roberto shrank downwards as the human went straight for the door, terrified of what was going to happen. It was quieter around here - less humans, but there was something creepy about it. The human knocked on the wood of the door, and waited. Several seconds passed - then he heard footsteps, and then the door creaked open.

A female human stood there, with a furry creature in her arms. The animal resembled an Amazon animal called a margay, except it was smaller and had a slightly different pattern. It was a brown colour, with thin, black stripes marking it's pelt. Long, white whiskers twitched from its muzzle, which had a scar on one side. A pair of enormous amber eyes were fixated on Roberto, and the creature hissed at him, making his skin prickle with fear and unease. The human was bony and short, with spiky, cream-yellow hair that was too pale to be natural. She was ivory-skinned, with icy blue eyes, and sharp features. "Hello, Pablo." She said, in a somewhat high-pitched, scratchy voice. Drawings marked her arms and shoulders - red flowers, words, and something that he thought was a human skull on her colllarbone.

"Lacey." The male human - Pablo - nodded in greeting. He held up the cage, and Roberto flinched as Lacey's icy blue gaze turned to him. "Here you go - Patricio wanted another, didn't he? And this time, don't let that thing near it." He glared at the animal in Lacey's arms. The animal spat at him, before leaping down and stalking into the building with a lashing tail. He thrusted the cage toward Lacey, making Roberto stumble. "This is the final bird I'm getting him." Pablo warned, meaningly. "If this one dies - or if that cat eats it - I'm not giving him another. This is the third one in four months."

"I know, Pablo." Lacey looked annoyed. "Besides, it's not the cat's fault. It was Patricio, for forgetting to close the cage. Look, just give me it." She took the cage, a little roughly, and Roberto staggered once again. "Say hello to Renata for me." Then Lacey slammed the door, and carried Roberto into the house.


	8. Numbered days

Roberto had never been inside a human house before, except for Pablo and Renata's. But this one wasn't much better, that was obvious. Maybe a little cleaner, but still, it was no where near pleasant. It made him feel cold.

The house was very shabby - the colour on the walls was a faded brown, and chipping away, and the floor was stained. A few old pictures were hung on the wall - of Lacey, the cat, humans he didn't recognize. There were a few of Pablo and Renata, too - maybe they and the humans who lived here were related. Roberto was fascinated as to how these scenes had been preserved and put into pictures, but he was disturbed by it all. It was all so unnatural - the only plant he saw was in a small pot, a leafy thing with flowers. But on closer observation, Roberto realized that it wasn't a real flower. The very idea was sickening - a fake flower? Why would they destroy everything natural and replace it with a fake replica?

They were now in a room similar to Pablo and Renata's, only there wasn't really any smoke or debris - or least not as much - on the floor. A box with moving pictures once again was present, only now the screen had a green field with humans kicking a ball. A patchy seat was before it, with the tabby cat perched upon the arm; the cat was still staring at him, with glistening, unsettling eyes. Roberto stiffened, suddenly feeling fearful at the creature. It was fixated on him.

Suddenly, a door flew open. A very large human struggled into the room - not only was the door frame narrow, but he was wide and overweight. He was breathing heavily from the effort of just walking, and a small set of hollow, grey eyes were visible above his crooked nose; it must've been broken a few times. His face was patchy in tone; it varied from matt tan to shiny red, as it if was scarred or burnt from the sun.

Short hair, black and dull, grew from his head - it looked ridiculous on such a large head. If the hair were longer, his appearance would look considerably better, but it was just sprouting like grass. He wore a far-too-small, red, flowered material on his torso - humans wore 'clothing'. Baggy coverings fell from his waist to his knees. He was holding something at arm's length; a large, dead rat, held by the very tip of its tail. Scratches marked it, and it's mouth hung open. Roberto felt a wave of sickness. "Control that stupid cat! I'm not having her bringing any more vermin into this house!" His voice was loud and booming; it went right through Roberto, made his heart jolt.

"It's not Esmeralda's fault." Lacey crooned, putting Roberto on the table and scooping up the tabby cat. The cat purred loudly, but one eye was still on Roberto. He swallowed hard, and took a step back. But then the large human turned toward the cage. He tossed the dead rat outside the window - a passer-by screamed as the dead creature flew out, and the male slammed the window and closed the curtains to stop a furious confrontation. The man then came toward him, and crouched down, peering into the cage with his beady eyes. Roberto didn't dare to move as the man began to grin.

"Perfect. Absolutely perfect." He was nodding in approval. He glanced at Lacey. "What did Pablo say?"

"That this is the final straw and you're not getting a replacement." Lacey replied, from where she was stroking the cat's back. The man sighed, and shook his head.

"Well, we'll be careful this time." He stood up, and gave Lacey a peck on the cheek. Roberto stared in disbelief; they were a couple? They looked so unmatched. He spotted a glittery-looking image on a window sill, where the large man was wearing a black and white, smart-looking outfit, and Lacey wearing an elegant-looking white dress with a bunch of flowers in her hands. It must've have been some time ago, since the man wasn't quite as large in the picture as he was now.

"You'd better be." Lacey said, before putting the cat down. The cat sauntered across the floor, before leaping up onto a tall, wooden box with doors, that almost touched the ceiling. It stayed there, crouched atop, still watching the little blue bird in the cage. Roberto stared up at, hoping that the bars of his cage were enough to defend against a cat so large. Lacey then turned back to the man, hands on her hips. "You know the leg ring you were going to put on him? I think you should wait until he grows a bit more. He's a little bit small, still."

"Nonsense!" Snorted the large man. "The ring is too small to slip off his feet, and then it's not too small so it constricts as he grows. Where is it? The drawer?" He was now sifting through a sort of container that had pulled out from a larger one, searching for something. "Here it is. Now, Lacey, grab a towel and we'll try get this thing on." Roberto stiffened as the two humans approached his cage, with Lacey holding a white material in both hands. He backed up, but soon felt the cold metal bars against his spine. He began breathing fast, the panic building as the door opened. Then, suddenly, he was seized, and was smothered and surrounded by white.

Roberto struggled violently, screeching fiercely and trying to free himself. But he felt something grabbing his left foot, something being attached to his ankle - then, in his struggles, Roberto came face-to-face with human skin. Taking his chance, Roberto did something his mother would cuff him for - but Ramon claimed that it was one of best ways of escaping a predator, should one have caught him. He sank his small, sharp beak into Lacey's knuckle, feeling her ring scraping the side of his beak. He tasted the metallic tang of blood. An ear-piercing shriek erupted from Lacey, and then Roberto was on the floor as she dropped him. The moment he hit the ground, Roberto sprang to his talons, skidding on the unnaturally smooth wood of the floor. Before he could seek an escape route, something large and brown came sailing from where it had been perched. Lacey, who was clinging onto her bleeding finger, shrieked. "No, Esmeralda!"

The cat had dived between Lacey and the large man, claws outstretched, jaws parted, revealing sharp, white teeth. Roberto scrabbled across the floor, dodging to avoid the cat's thorn-like claws. He ran blindly, not seeing an escape - all the doors and windows were shut. The cat skidded after him, knocking over a small container filled with rubbish in it's frenzy to catch him. But, suddenly, Roberto was plunged into darkness. Momentarily, he was confused, but then Roberto felt the walls. They must've put something over him, to stop him escaping. Outside the black, he heard the cat's disappointed yowls of protest, but Roberto began to panic in the tiny container. He threw himself against the walls, frantic, feeling blind. Then the black vanished, only to be replaced by the white cloth he had been wrapped in before. He shrieked in rage and fear, before he was thrown back into the cage, the door slamming.

"Esmeralda, out!" Roared the man, angrily. The cat hissed, before turning, and slinking off in disappointment. Lacey had dashed into the other room, the sound of running water being heard. Roberto was breathing heavily, but then something caught his eye on his ankle. A white ring, with a jumble of scribbling he couldn't read. Immediately, Roberto tried to pull it off, but it was too small to go past his foot. Panic surged within him, and suddenly, he began throwing himself against the walls once again, shrieking. The man glared at him, and then seized the cage, shaking it violently. Roberto hit his head on the bars, before falling to the bottom of the cage in a daze. The man held the cage up to his face, scowling into the cage.

"Behave, you nasty little creature." He snarled, before covering the cage with something, sending him into darkness. Roberto's heart raced with terror, and he sank to the floor, wings wrapped tightly around his knees, rocking slightly.

He wanted to wake up now. He wanted this nightmare to end. Roberto wanted to wake up in his cosy little nest, his parents and sister sleeping around him, tell them about his horrible dreams. Alessandra would have scooped him up, Talitha would have giggled at his complaints of a nightmare, and Ramon would've, most likely, continued to snore. But then he remembered that this was real. He wasn't dreaming; this was really happening. His parents were dead, Talitha was who knew where, and his wings were still stained with his mother's blood.

At that moment, he heard the door being pulled open, and then heard it slam. Roberto turned, and his eyes widened at the sight of a hollow object. Water filled a bowl, like how his mother used to use leaves to collect water for Roberto and Talitha. Roberto rushed over to the bowl, realizing how dehydrated he was - but his main thought was his wings. But before he plunged his wings in, he paused to drink as much as he could. He couldn't drink the water, after he had used it to get rid of blood.

The water was nothing like the water he drank in the Amazon. That one had been so much sweeter - carrying hints of moss and leaf, from where it had collected in dips in the branches. Sometimes Ramon would pierce a coconut, and fill a leaf with the coconut water - it was the best thing Roberto had ever drank. But this water tasted bare, empty, tasteless. It barely quenched his thirst, but it was enough to make it more bearable.

Finally, Roberto set to work on his wings. At first, the stains wouldn't give, but as he scrubbed them with more water, he saw it beginning to fade away, pinkish droplets trickling down. This wasn't the only thing trickling - the tears in his eyes were streaming down his cheeks again. Roberto wasn't sure how much he had cried in that single day - it was all too much. Losing his home, his family, stuck in this bizarre, terrible new land. But Roberto had one thing, at the front of his mind.

He had to get out of here. He had to - he couldn't let his family down. He had to escape and make them proud. He couldn't stay here for the rest of his life - while he was here, his days were numbered.


	9. Something pale cream

Roberto had trouble getting to sleep. Not only was the loud snoring of the man heard through the wall, but he saw the shadows of Esmeralda's legs dancing across the light under the door, as the cat paced outside it. The cat was absolutely obsessed with hunting him, and he kept hearing her claws scrabbling at the door. The sound of distant music was still blaring too, and noisy human voices coming through the walls. It set his nerves on edge.

Roberto couldn't get rid of the taste of Lacey's blood; he didn't regret biting her, but he wished he had bitten the man instead. He deserved it more than Lacey had, no matter how unpleasant she was. Roberto lay there on the hard floor, which had since been accompanied by an old cloth for bedding. It was miserable - so uncomfortable, not at all soft, and it smelt like dust. But he supposed it was better than lying on the freezing metal of the floor. Not like it would make a difference - it was unbearably cold in the tiny room. He was shivering - he tried to pull the cloth over him, but it barely warmed him. Roberto wasn't quite sure as to why it was cold, since Brazil was often in sweltering heat - but he thought it was coming from a box higher up the wall, where a rattling sound came from the gaps.

Roberto then felt a near-crippling pain in his stomach - so intense it hurt. He was absolutely starving, and he couldn't remember the last time he had eaten. Were they even planning to feed him at all? Maybe they'd refuse, to punish him for biting Lacey.

Roberto's eyes were fixed on the ring around his ankle. He had tried everything - he had chewed it, he had pulled it until it almost cut off the circulation to his foot - but the ring was made of a shiny, hard material that he couldn't possibly bite through. He had gnawed it but barely left a mark, and it strained his neck to reach down and chew the ring, when it was at an awkward angle. He was incredibly worried; what if he couldn't get it off? What if he had to live with it? Just the thought of that brought tears to his eyes.

 _Stop it!_ The little voice inside his head shouted. _Pull yourself together. You're not a baby anymore, you need to stop crying._ Roberto sniffed, and breathed deeply, trying to forget the ring, his family, his location. He had to figure a way out.

Roberto examined the door lock, trying to see how he'd open it - but then it wouldn't matter. It had a locking device of sorts, a lump of metal that was locked and unlocked via a funny shaped, metal stick. There was no chance he'd be able to open it, and he had already climbed all over the cage - there was no way out.

 _Morning_

Roberto wasn't too sure as to whether he had slept at all. He sat in the cage, depressed and barely acknowledging the cat's stare, or Lacey's annoyed look as she picked at the brown plaster on her knuckle. "This might scar." She complained, bitterly, glaring at the man, whom Roberto now knew to be called Patricio.

"Don't be silly, a little bite won't scar as long as long as you don't pick or scratch at it." Patricio was searching for his 'keys', whatever they were. It wasn't that early, at least not for Roberto - he usually woke at dawn, but it was definitely some time past sunrise. The sun was between the horizon and the middle of the sky.

"If it scars, you're paying for that special scar-fading oil." Lacey muttered, standing and plucking up her bag, a vile-looking, glitzy pink thing. Patricio shook his head.

"You're such a pessimist sometimes. Anyway, hurry up - the traffic is worst at ten." Patricio slung some bags filled with objects over his shoulder, before grabbing Roberto's cage and heading for the door, as Lacey applied a red substance to her lips. Roberto hardly thought about where they were going - he was just thankful to be out of the place, without Esmeralda's creepy amber eyes and the weird smell that made him think that there was a dead mouse somewhere. It was probably true, since Esmeralda had apparently brought in the dead rat yesterday.

Before long, Roberto's cage was sitting in a truck, alongside jumbles of bags and boxes, behind Patricio and Lacey's seats; it wasn't like the one before, but it had an open top and short walls. Roberto jumped as the truck rumbled to life, and began to move. A loud 'beep' came from the wheel as Lacey drove forward, through the swarm of people; it was a lot busier here in the day than at night.

Eventually, the crowd had thinned until the truck was able to travel faster, turning into a main road where other vehicles drove and where the people were only at the sides. Roberto climbed further up the bars so that he had a better view of Manaus. Buildings lined the road, tall and ugly. The sky was blue, the sun bearing down, hot and glaringly bright. Roberto squeezed his head through a larger gap in the bars, feeling the breeze ruffling his feathers, sending his ever-growing crest feathers sweeping across his face. His crest feathers had grown as long as Ramon's - down the sides of his head, except for one shorter one flicking upwards. Didn't Alessandra have a shorter feather that stuck up?

Roberto's heart suddenly jolted as he saw a river through a gap in the buildings, with - his heart leapt again - trees. _Rainforest._ He craned his neck to see better, but then a building swarmed in the way, blocking it. A wave of disappointment tore through him, and Roberto suddenly slumped, sliding off the bars and to the floor.

The truck continued driving for around twenty minutes - during this time, Roberto sat on the floor, wings wrapped around himself, dreading where they were going. But then, finally, it slowed to a complete stop, and he snapped out of his mood.

Trying to ignore the dizziness he felt from the journey, Roberto looked up, not expecting anything good - but then he leapt to his feet, pressed himself against the bars, staring at what lay in the distance. Green - the Amazon. The brown river flowed into the mass of green rainforest, swift and powerful. He breathed in a lungful of air - while the unpleasant city smell was still present, he could detect traces of water, mud, sweet greenery on the breeze. Memories came flooding back, and for the first time since his family had perished, he felt a bubble of joy. Unfortunately, the bubble was then burst, for he saw just how far away the rainforest was. A river, as well as his terrifying new owners, blocked his path to freedom.

They were on some sort of wooden deck, with poles that stood into the swirling water. Huge constructions floated by the deck sides, tied to it to prevent them from floating off. Humans walked on a few, and Roberto remembered his sister's stories of 'boats' on the Amazon river, filled with people. Those had to be boats. He frowned; was a boat his way out of the city? He couldn't fly...

The thought hit him like a slap to the face. He hadn't thought about flight at all - of course he had to learn to fly. That was his only chance - he couldn't stay grounded. If he learned to fly, his escape would be made so much easier. But he needed someone to teach him... how could he fly himself? Could he?

Roberto then snapped back to the present, looking around. His cage was perched upon a large trolley, filled with boxes and bags of objects. Patricio was pushing it through swarms of tourists, shouting at them to move, while Lacey followed close behind, batting her eyelashes and smiling with her crimson lips at male humans, with the oblivious Patricio walking ahead. Roberto glared at her; why was she trying to show herself off, when she had Patricio? Not that he was much to look at or pleasant to live with, but still, he was her other half. That was vanity right there - and she had kept looking at herself in that stupid heart-shaped mirror from her bag on the way here.

Finally, the trolley veered to the left, out of the flow of busy people. They were now among some stalls, with people attempting to sell second-hand things. Roberto's cage was then slung onto a hook, while Patricio and Lacey began emptying the boxes and bags, arranging the objects within; there were old ornaments, books, some gaudy jewellery that probably once belonged to Lacey, and even fruit. Roberto stared at the fruit - apples, red and glistening in the sun. His stomach painfully reminded him how hungry he was.

Suddenly, he jolted as something poked him in the side. Roberto turned, looking up into Patricio's large, ugly face. He was grinning with yellow teeth that weren't far from Pablo's shade, and something pale brown-cream was in his grasp, sticking through the bars. Roberto blinked. "Polly want a cracker?" Patricio sneered.


	10. On the stalls

Roberto stiffened at what Patricio had called him. _Polly?_ What kind of a stupid name was Polly? The feathers on his head began to rise with the rest of his plumage as his unease set in. Roberto backed away from Patricio's looming face, terrified.

Patricio laughed, shoving the pale cream object into the cage, before turning away to arrange some old ornaments. Roberto looked down at it; he picked it up, turning it over. It was thin and round, with nothing interesting about it at all. It was light in his grasp, dappled with bumpy brown marks. Roberto had no idea what it was; it didn't smell edible, or of anything at all. He glanced up at Lacey. She was gnawing on one, while fanning herself with a piece of paper in the heat; was he supposed to eat it? He frowned, confused.

It didn't look like food at all, but it was edible, and Roberto was in desperate need of food. His stomach was crippling him with pain, still - he hadn't eaten for two days. It wouldn't harm him, he supposed - if humans could eat it, he probably could as well. Cautiously, Roberto nibbled at the edge of the food - but then revulsion shot through him as he swallowed it.

Roberto almost choked on the thing - the dryness clung to his parched throat, tiny crumbs flying into his windpipe. He coughed wildly, spitting and trying to get rid of the taste. It was like nothing he had eaten before - it was bland, dry, and vile. Roberto was used to eating sweet things, or plant matter - sharp and sweet fruits, stems, shoots and leaves, or seeds and nuts. His parents had brought him and Talitha clay, before - apparently it helped with digestion, or neutralizing toxins consumed with certain foods. It wasn't the tastiest of things, but it was still good.

But with this thing, his sensitive stomach seemed to twist and contract, and Roberto felt it surging back up his throat. He turned away, and spat it out, hating the taste of the sour bile that came with the object. He clutched his stomach, gasping, his heart racing. At the sound of his struggle, the adjacent stall owner glanced up, frowning at the little bird in the cage.

Hate flowed through him as he heard Patricio laughing at him. "Don't like crackers, Polly?" He sneered. "Tough, because that's all you're getting." Patricio shoved another one through the bars, before turning away and throwing out his arms. Roberto felt outraged at being ignored. "Lovely tourists, why don't you bring a souvenir home with you? We've got plenty here! Ornaments and books in flawless condition!"

 _Liar,_ Roberto thought, recovering from the disgusting cracker. Most ornaments were cracked, or the books looking scruffy, the corners dark and grubby. Lacey also began advertising. "We have fresh apples! Or you could have your picture taken with our pet bird, for only eight euros a person -" Roberto froze, whipping his head up. Pet bird? Him? What did she mean, 'have your picture taken with our pet bird?' He didn't know what 'having a picture taken' meant, but he knew 'pet bird' meant him. Roberto sank to the back of the cage, praying that none of the tourists would hear Lacey. No wretched human was going to touch him - he was no pet.

But Roberto's heart sank as some humans slowed to look. As more people looked their way, Patricio joined in with Lacey, repeating what she had said. The tourist's eyes pierced him, freezing him to the spot. Smaller, younger ones pulled on their parents' arms, begging, but he was relieved when most parents dragged their protesting children away. But some parents were considering. Roberto was then horrified to see some approaching Patricio and Lacey, looking at Roberto as they did.

Some chatter was exchanged between one family - two parents and a child, bickering with Lacey and Patricio over how 'eight euros' was 'too much for one person'. Then, eventually, they seemed to agree on something, as Lacey had a strange-looking device in hand, with a flashing screen. Patricio approached the cage; a chain dangled from one hand. Roberto, at first, didn't move - he wasn't sure what Patricio was going to do, but as he turned over their advertising words in his mind, he figured it out. He looked at the ring on his leg, seeing how the chain would attach. He had to act.

Roberto tried desperately to think of a solution - he had one idea, but it was crazy. He was running out of time - Patricio was fiddling with the padlock to his cage. The one crazy idea would have to do, as he was faced with no other choice. Without thinking, Roberto flung himself at the bars, wings flying wildly up and down, shrieking as loud as his voice box would allow. His heart jolted as he felt the air catch under his flapping wings, but he couldn't tell whether it was flight or not.

Countless heads spun round at the sound of the screeching bird - the family who were waiting gasped, the parents behind pulling their children back, other people also backing away. Even Patricio looked alarmed. He glared into the cage, looking around wildly. "Shut it!" He hissed under his breath, embarrassment turning his face red. Lacey covered her ears, flinching as Roberto continued shrieking. He continued shrieking and squawking, knowing that his plan was working. The people no longer looked keen or excited - rather, they looked disturbed and even fearful.

"Never mind!" Cried the waiting mother, quickly, scooping up her child, who looked frightened of the screeching bird. "We're fine. We'll skip a photo, thanks." As that family hurried away, the waiting ones soon followed, as Roberto didn't stop - he continued to squawk loudly, desperate to put the humans off.

"Patricio!" Lacey hissed sharply, looking around in alarm as more stares turned their way. "Shut him up, somehow!" Patricio nodded frantically. He grabbed the cage, lifting it off the hook - then he shoved Roberto and the cage under one of the tables, throwing a box over him. Immediately, Roberto stopped. He slid to the floor, heart thumping, relieved that his plan had worked. He shivered at the thought of human hands - pulling on his tail feathers, grabbing his wings. It was nightmarish.

So _this_ was why he was here? Roberto began shaking violently, as the realization crept in. He had been taken from his home, shoved into this metal prison, a ring stuck on his ankle - just to be petted by ignorant tourists. Disgust shot through his mind at Patricio and Lacey's arrogance. They were using a living, breathing creature for profit. It was sickening.

Roberto wasn't sure how much time had passed before the cage was plucked from the ground, and placed back onto the hook. He narrowed his eyes at Patricio and Lacey; if they dared try and force him to be some sort of attraction, he'd shriek again. But, thankfully, they didn't try advertising anymore. Stares were still directed their way, and both of them looked uncomfortable. "We'll try again tomorrow... we'll use that thing Pablo gave us to keep him quiet." Patricio said, glaring at Roberto. "We didn't pay that many euros for this bird to do nothing to help us."

Roberto bristled his feathers, making a hissing sound at Lacey and Patricio. Lacey rolled her eyes, putting something in her ears that lead, via some long strings, into a device. The faint sound of music came from it as she closed her eyes and began rocking her head to the beat. The neighbouring stall owner was still frowning, even from before. He leaned toward Patricio, as Roberto continued to hiss. "If you don't mind me prying - he's an agressive little fellow, isn't he?" The man from the other stall was older - and thinner, no surprise - than Patricio, with spectacles and grey hair. He had a kind, tanned face, with lines made from age. Patricio looked at his neighbour, irritably.

"What's it to you?" He grunted, rudely. The older man didn't look offended; rather, he looked as though he hadn't noticed Patricio's unkindness.

"Well," the older man began. "If those crackers are all you're feeding him, he won't be in much better spirits... why not give him one of those apples? I looked after my sister's bird, a few months ago, and I know a bird loves fruit." The older man then indicated toward the box of apples beside Lacey. Patricio narrowed his small, unfriendly eyes.

"We're _selling_ them. We can't afford to." Said Patricio, sourly.

"In that case, allow me." The older man turned away, reaching into his stall rows. He was selling entirely fruit - oranges, star fruit, coconuts, and others. Roberto craned his neck, watching as the older man plucked up a passion fruit, breaking it in half. Then, to Roberto's surprise, he reached over, and pushed the pieces through the bars of the cage, while Patricio looked on in disdain. Roberto seized the fruit the moment it came through, hardly believing it - he began wolfing the passion fruit's contents down, just in case Patricio and Lacey tried to take it away from him. He had never tasted anything so good - his first real food in over two days. Almost immediately, the agony in his stomach began to subdue.

The older man then looked at Lacey and Patricio. "I'm only here once a week - if he's still here next week, I'm hoping he'll be better fed." The music stopped on Lacey's device. She looked up, pale faced.

"Better fed? What are you talking about?" She asked. "We feed him perfectly well." The older man was looking at Patricio and Lacey with knowing, unconvinced eyes. Roberto knew that he looked a right state; of course he would look underfed. He _was_ underfed, and already, he was getting thin. The older man leaned closer.

"I know a deprived animal when I see one. By next week, with proper feeding, that bird should be happier and healthier." The man then turned away, as a woman had three coconuts in hand and was waving a piece of greenish paper. Roberto paused from eating.

 _I won't be happier or healthier by next week, as long as I'm here._ Roberto looked at the passion fruit seeds in the shell. _I have to be out of here by next week. I have to._


	11. Out of options

Roberto scratched furiously at the band on his beak. Patricio and Lacey had wrestled the band onto his beak after a twenty-odd minute struggle, with Patricio gaining several bitten and clawed fingers in the process. His fingers now had at least six plasters, four on the left and two on the right hand - Roberto had relished the look of anger and pain on the human's ugly face, but any scrap of positivity he felt was now gone.

He couldn't open his beak - the band had tied it shut, so he could only breathe through his nostrils. He had desperately tried to pull it off, but the band was far too tight to move. And everytime he tried to get rid of it, Patricio would poke him with a stick and shove a cracker through the bars. The crackers were like poison to Roberto, now - they were driving him insane. And Patricio seemed to know this - he enjoyed tormenting Roberto by repeating that horrible sentence.

"Polly want a cracker?" Patricio sneered, once again - then Roberto felt a short, sharp pain rip through his back. He jumped almost half a foot, and whirled around, to see one of his feathers, in a pair of metal graspers. Patricio must've found it hilarious, for his fist was banging the table and he was laughing unbearably loud. Lacey entered the room, looking angry and annoyed as her icy blue gaze rested on Patricio.

"Don't use my tweezers to pluck feathers off him! He must be covered in germs!" She snapped, irritably, snatching the tweezers away and taking off the feather, dropping it in disgust, before running into the kitchen to run her tweezers under the tap. Esmeralda shot across the floor, seizing the twirling feather from the air and beginning to batter it with her thorn-sharp claws. Roberto flinched as she then began to chew his feather, gnawing on it like it was a piece of food - if she got her paws on him, she would do the exact thing to him.

Esmeralda eventually got bored of the feather - she spat out the ruined remains, stalking away, unsatisfied. The tabby leapt back onto her usual perch, the shelf, where she sat, her obsessive gaze on Roberto once again. What was it with cats and birds? Esmeralda was desperate to get hold of him - it was such a stupid idea, buying him when they had a cat in the house. Esmeralda had already claimed the last bird who had lived here, Roberto guessed, as he remembered the conversation exchanged between Pablo and Lacey a few days before.

Three days had passed since the first day on the stall. For these days, he had been disappointed to see that the kindly old human had gone; he remembered him mentioning he was there only weekly. But Patricio had completely ignored the old man's advice - not once had Patricio fed him anything besides crackers. Lacey was more sympathetic toward Roberto, and reminded Patricio to buy him some 'special bird food' - he had promised her, but his diet had not changed. Whenever Lacey asked about it, Patricio promised that he had fed Roberto something earlier - of course this was a lie, and Lacey was too naive to see through it.

Roberto was starving again, but he refused to touch the crackers. It wouldn't have made a difference anyway, what with his beak barely able to open half a centimetre. He had been driven to nibble at one yesterday through sheer starvation, but it had come back up as quickly as he had swallowed it. He didn't know what it was - the disgusting taste, or his stomach couldn't cope with the bizarre food, since it was used to fruit and nuts. Didn't Patricio see that he was slowly starving? Roberto had been in the house for a total of four, maybe five days, but he was losing so much weight. He was a growing bird - he needed nutrition, because otherwise he'd grow abnormally. His stomach pain was terrible, as it begged for food. Not to mention he couldn't fly yet.

Roberto had succeeded in evading the his owners' desire to use him to make 'money', which he guessed was some sort of human profit. He had been hostile toward any people considering having their 'photo done' with him, squawking and hissing, biting Patricio and Lacey when they attempted to extract him from the cage. Luckily, every single tourist had made a swift getaway.

But now he had a problem. The band around his beak meant that he couldn't make a sound - he needed sound to look aggressive. Some tourists would see his bushed feathers and wild movements, but then they'd take in the band around his beak and see that no harm would come to them. They'd be too arrogant to take his emotions into account - that was the problem with humans, as his parents had warned him. They treated animals like objects, as if they didn't have feelings. He thought back to his defence attempts - Roberto could have used his claws to scratch one, but that was also an issue.

He looked down at his talons, trying not to burst into tears. The sharp ends had been removed against his will - Pablo had been round, and had cut off the tips of his claws while Roberto had been restrained. His scratches now barely left a mark - cutting human skin was impossible. He had to wait too long for the claws to grow back to their former glory - he'd go insane before his claws were sharp enough to claw a tourist. And that was true - he was losing his mind. His dreams were plagued with nightmares of tabby cats, leg rings and crackers. He lay in tears each night, rocking himself like a bird possessed. _I need to escape._

But Roberto didn't have any ideas. The cage was padlocked; his claws and beak were useless; he couldn't fly. What could he possibly do? Here, he was in a house with a cat watching his every move, and on the stall, he was surrounded by humans. Roberto was practically trapped.

 _Later_

Roberto lay, sweating, under the cloth he had been given as bedding. It was unbearably hot under the cloth, his crest feathers sticking to his head and face, but he supposed it was better than being on some human's arm. Patricio and Lacey had resorted to advertising him with a sign, but Roberto had hid himself underneath the rags. He was well hidden - anyone who looked his way would only see a heap of cloth, so maybe they'd think that he wasn't in there. So far, it had worked, for nobody had asked about him.

Roberto curled up tighter around his stomach, trying to ease the feeling of hunger he felt. It was painful, and he knew his hunger was taking it's toll on him. His feathers had lost their lustre, he was in constant fatigue, and even though he had nothing to see his reflection in, he had a feeling that his eyes had lost their spark.

He glared down at his claws, infuriated with their uselessness, trying to figure out how to make them grow back faster. He tugged experimentally at the ring on his ankle, hoping for a miracle, but it stayed firm. It was far too small to slip off, no matter how hard he pulled and tugged.

As he lay there, his mind began to wander back to his birthplace. His home - it was so close. He could _see_ it, peeking out from under the cloth. Through the floating boats, Roberto's heart twisted as he saw the distant trees. Just a flight or boat ride away, the Amazon was painfully close. But cage bars blocked his way, and his inability to fly. Roberto had tried to fly, but the cage was simply too small.

Maybe he could try to remember everything good about his birthplace - his mood had been so dark as of recent. So he remembered - recalling the good times. Roberto pictured Ramon, Alessandra, and Talitha, pictured them happy and in the tree. He visualized his comfortable nest, and the view from the top branch. Not high enough to see over the tree canopy, but still beautiful, the flowers and fruit in the trees bright against the green canvas of the jungle. He remembered the sound of birdsong, and the distant cry of a monkey. His heart ached with longing, to see it all again. _Will I see it all again?_

"No wonder!" Cried a loud voice, jolting Roberto out of his nostalgia. Suddenly, the cloth was whipped away from him, and he was briefly blinded by sunlight. Roberto squinted, before seeing the cage door slam. Patricio had the cloth in hand, glaring at him. "No wonder nobody's stopped. They couldn't even see him!" He turned away, throwing the cloth to the floor in clear frustration.

Roberto was briefly puzzled. But then it dawned upon him. Patricio had only just noticed that he had been hiding, and now Roberto didn't have anything. The cloth was gone - he was exposed. He had nowhere to hide. No beak, no claws. Roberto's heart lurched as the realization hit him. There was nothing to stop a tourist from touching him.


	12. Liberty

Roberto frantically tried to stop himself panicking. He wanted to open his beak and breathe deeply, but he couldn't because of the band. His heart was beating dangerously fast as he realized that he was totally helpless. _Calm down!_ He told himself, placing a wing over his heart, trying to slow it down. Roberto felt it's frantic pace slow, but it was still fast. He closed his eyes, finding comfort in the darkness. Roberto opened them again, running his wingtips through his crest feathers and trying to think.

He desperatedly looked at his claws, but the tips were gone, still. They wouldn't grow back fast enough - but he needed them now, more than ever. His only other option was his beak, so he reached up, trying to ease his useless claws underneath to get a grip on the band. His heart lurched with hope as he felt it slide a little - but then his attention was drawn away, for a female human and two children were now talking to Lacey and Patricio. He stiffened.

Lacey seemed to know the woman - she was hugging her, and smiling widely. "Clarice, it's wonderful to see you! Are you back for your holiday? Oh, look at these two!" Lacey bent down, sweeping the two children into a cuddle. The boy, a miserable, bored-looking child with dark blonde hair, shoved Lacey away, embarrassed, while the brunette little girl hugged Lacey back. "Grace and Toby have gotten so tall! How much changes in a year?" Lacey began talking excitedly with Clarice, who was smiling, the little girl in one arm and trying to hold onto the boy with the other. He was straining against her hand, trying to get away. Patricio didn't look up - he had grunted a vague greeting, but he still had his nose in a newspaper.

"Do you want a photo to take back to California?" Lacey offered. Clarice, a woman with unnatural crimson hair, looked doubtfully at the pricing - noticing this, Lacey laughed. "Don't be silly - this one's free." Patricio looked up, looking annoyed at this, but said nothing.

"Thank you, Lacey, but I'm not sure... isn't a bird dangerous?" Clarice was frowning at Roberto, scanning him with critical, concerned hazel eyes. Roberto stiffened, too paralyzed with fear to move.

Lacey chuckled. "You have nothing to worry about. His claws have been cut, he can't bite you, and he's on a chain - there's no risk, I assure you, Clarice."

"Well, if you're sure..." to Roberto's horror, Clarice nodded, and the boy's interest seemed to have been captured, for he stopped pulling on Clarice's arm, turning to see Roberto. Patricio put down the newspaper, and approached the cage, pulling on some recently-purchased gloves. Roberto looked around, looking for a possible way out of his situation, but then he realized he was out of options. This was happening.

Roberto froze as Patricio's gloved hand entered the cage, took hold of the chain that had already been attached to the ring on his leg. Roberto was dragged toward the entrance, his claws scrapping across the floor - then Patrico seized him, lifting him out. Roberto's brain stopped working as his claws instinctively wrapped around the glove, as he was held closer to Clarice and the two children.

"That's unusual - he's not usually this well behaved." Lacey said, looking surprised.

Clarice looked uncomfortable as the bird, as small as he was, was held close to her children's faces. The little girl reached out with a small hand, and ran her fingers lightly across Roberto's wing feathers. He stiffened at her touch, before he began flinching at the feel of the human hand on his wing. It was like having a large, horrible insect crawling on him, and he began to shake. The girl frowned, and pulled her hand back.

"He seems scared..." She mumbled, looking up at her mother with uncertainty, and then at Patricio and Lacey. Patricio had a face like stone, while Lacey coughed.

"He's just a little shy." Lacey tried to assure the little girl, but she looked unconvinced, keeping her hand back, not reaching out to stroke him again. Roberto couldn't help but admire the human child - she was so young, and she could tell that she was being lied to. Did she respect his emotions and well-being, unlike every other human he had encountered?

"Let me stroke him, Grace!" Interrupted an unpleasant voice. The boy pushed forward, reaching up to drag his hand across his feathers - he was much more rough, no where near as gentle as his sister had been. Roberto glared down at the boy, recovering from his initial shock - then the boy's hand dropped, and Roberto felt something against his tail feathers. He looked down with a frown; Patricio's gaze followed.

A silver thing dropped simply through the air, straight through the gap in the wooden blanks that made the deck. The chain that had once been attached to the ring on his leg dropped into the river below with a tiny splash. The chain must not have been attached properly, for the boy's hand had caused it to come loose. As it dawned upon him, Roberto was sure he heard his parents' voices in his head. _Run!_

Lacey dived toward him, hands outstretched, and Patricio's free hand rose - but Roberto's brain and muscles sprung to life. He leapt off Patricio's arm, tumbling through the air, trying to dodge Patricio's flailing hands. "Grab him!" Patricio shouted, and tourists and stall owners turned at the commotion. Roberto landed hard on the wooden deck, and he immediately leapt to his feet. Roberto's first instinct was to flee, but then he turned back, not caring at the risk. He sprang, seizing the bottom of Patricio's trousers and scrabbling upwards.

Roberto ducked under Patricio's hands, latching his claws onto the human's arm - he reached up with his wings, pushing the band with all his strength. Then his beak was free, and, blinded by rage, he sank his beak onto Patricio's skin. Patricio let out an ear-splitting screech as Roberto tasted blood.

"Get him off! Get him off!" Roared Patricio, waving his arm frantically. Lacey picked up a wooden plank, and swung it wildly toward the bird - Roberto immediately let go, dropping to the floor as the plank hit Patricio in the stomach, instead. Patricio bellowed, doubled over in pain. Lacey gasped, dropping the piece of wood.

"Sorry, Patricio! I was aiming for him!" she insisted, trying to help him to his feet, but Patricio glared at her and pushed her away from him, stumbling to his feet and looking up. His furious expression found Roberto, who was standing on the deck. Recovering from the blow, Patricio lurched forwards, running toward him. Roberto looked around wildly, looking for an escape - people had stopped to stare, and some were laughing, probably from Lacey's mistake. Roberto made a break for it, dashing through a gap in the humans while Patricio followed.

As Roberto ran for what likely was his life, dogs barked at him, straining on their leads, while the Plumbeous Pigeons perched upon the top of stalls, laughing and looking on, as humans leapt out of the way as the bird ran through the crowd. Some humans were actually cheering _him_ on - some young males were punching the air, shouting "Go bird!"

Roberto was panicking - he couldn't hide from Patricio, and he couldn't fly. Where was he supposed to go? Then he saw green in the distance, across the water. The rainforest, just across the river. Roberto skidded as he made the adrupt turn, and ran straight for it, madly flapping his wings, but he felt no flight come to him. _Work, wings! Please!_ Roberto was getting so close to the edge, but he still wasn't lifting. But he couldn't stop - Patricio was hot on his tail, shouting at tourists to stop the runaway bird. He had to jump, before the other humans actually did try to stop him.

Roberto leapt, flapping his wings, tumbling down toward the rushing water, which ran a few feet below him. Roberto let out a shriek of panic - he would drown. But then he felt the wind catch under his wings - then he was swept from his fall. His talons just skimmed the water surface as he was suddenly airborne.

Roberto gasped, but didn't feel the joy he should have felt on his first flight. All he could think about was flying away, getting as far away as possible. His young, weak-muscled wings were already tiring, but Roberto didn't care. He couldn't believe it.

He was free.


	13. Butterfly blue

Roberto wasn't sure how far he had flown, nor for how long, but by now, the sun was hot and just past it's highest point; a few hours had passed since Roberto had flown away from that piece of hell. He still couldn't believe what he had had done - he had felt such satisfaction at sinking his beak into Patricio's arm, causing him pain. Of course a bite from a chick that was barely past flying age was nothing compared to how much agony Patricio had done to him. Roberto was in pieces.

Patricio had to be the reason why Roberto had been captured in the first place. He had specifically wanted Pablo to get him a young bird that was cute to attract tourism - with Roberto's small size, big blue eyes and wavy feathers on his head, of course he'd be ideal. He was shaken from the whole experience. He had been stalked by Esmeralda, had cowered in fear at those piercing amber eyes, while Patricio had looked on in amusement. He had been physically sick with those vile crackers that had nearly driven him mad, and had been starved for days. Roberto was now trapped - most likely for life - with a constant reminder of his experience, and all he had to do was look at his left ankle. All because of that vile human. Never again would he go back to the human world. It was far too cruel, too dangerous. He was home, and there to stay. He wasn't going to allow human poison into his life again.

Roberto looked down at the sight below. The meandering river flowed below, while the green Amazon lay around it. He should stop, land and rest, but Roberto didn't think. He was desperate to put as much distance between himself and Manaus as he possibly could, but he was barely taking the exhaustion creeping through his wings into account. His wing muscles were weak and soft, as his movement and ability to practice flight had been restricted in the tiny cage. He should have been flying over a week ago, so his wing muscles were underdeveloped. If he practiced a little more, they'd probably get stronger...

Roberto then turned his head, running his eyes across his wings. The breeze rustled through his long flight feathers, and, for a moment, his torn mind moved. A small spark went off in his brain as he realized that, as clumsy as his flight was, he was actually doing it. His wingflaps were uneven and sometimes he would lose altitude and drop several feet... but he was doing it. _Flying._ He felt a small wave of pride. He had done it - all on his own. No-one had taught him. He had learned to fly in a split second before hitting the river surface - it was hard to believe.

Roberto was then made aware of the intense pain creeping through his wings. He should probably fly lower, look for a safe place to rest. But where was safe? He had no means of protection, other than his beak - that had defended him against humans before it had been bound shut. But his claws were short and the sharp tips cut, but his beak kept him safe from human touch. But humans were nothing compared to what lay in the jungle. They didn't spit venom or have poison seeping through their skins. They didn't have fangs that were long enough to pierce his entire stomach, or huge claws. They couldn't pick up his scent, or sense his thermal radiation. Roberto couldn't hide in the rainforest, not without protection. He was a small chick - he wouldn't last long alone. If only his family had survived...

Roberto then saw a gaping scar below - bare, brown soil, covered in broken tree stumps and dead forest debris. He felt his blood run cold. It had been deforested, there was no doubt about it. He flew lower, so that he could make sure - his suspicions were then confirmed as he saw the tracks of the monstrous machines. Half-filled with puddles, and fading away, but he could still tell what had made them. This could very possibly be the place where he had been born - where Alessandra, Ramon and Talitha had died. He had certainly flown long enough to obtain the distance the truck had driven him, from here to Manaus. He was about to start crying, but stopped himself. Shaking his feathers, Roberto flew on, past the scar, without looking back. He was never going to allow humans into his head again.

 _Later_

He had flown for hours now, and he was sure he was going to faint if he carried on flying much longer. He had finally felt the fatigue setting in, and knew he had to find somewhere to rest. Roberto looked down, trying to catch his breath, wondering if it was safe. He had flown over some Kapok trees not long ago, Kapoks which had been full of Scarlet and Green-Winged macaws. Since there were so many, he assumed that they were the Red tribe his family had told him about. He had wondered whether to ask for help, but Ramon had once mentioned that the tribes were incredibly hostile to each other - he was a Spix's macaw, and he was certain the Red tribe wouldn't take kindly to him. Roberto then wondered about the Spix's macaw tribe. Surely they weren't as hostile as his family had said? He remembered the three females he had encountered, before Alessandra had interrupted. Just as he thought of this, he was made aware of a loud flapping sound, on both sides. Roberto, at first, didn't dare turn his head to look. A hundred images passed through his head, as he imagined predators that could fly. Swallowing hard, he dared himself to look. Slowly, Roberto turned his head, only to be petrified by what he saw.

Roberto was dwarfed by these creatures. Large and navy blue, with yellow markings on their faces. He then remembered what these birds were - monstrous in proportion, with beaks so powerful they could break coconuts. _Hyacinth macaws._ Dark, unfriendly eyes were fixed on him, filled with mocking. "What do we have here? A little Spix's macaw?" Sneered the large, old male. A hint of silver tinged his ragged feathers, and his talons were knobbly from age. His brown eyes were pale and dull, and scars slashed through his dark plumage. Behind him, a female followed; she had grey eyes like polished river stones, but, unlike the male, she was much younger, a young adult, probably a few years younger than his parents. No scars marked her, but there as something else - a gnarled, twisted foot. She held it huddled close; the toes were sprawled in different directions, overlapping each other and twisting like overgrown tree roots. A bump, followed by a tiny claw, stuck out to the side; an extra toe which had not developed. Roberto stared, feeling cold at the sight of the deformity, wondering whatever could've caused it. But something told him that these birds were as twisted as the female's talons. Their eyes were cold, and the male's scars were white and very visible. He must've been in so many fights, to get that many scars.

"What are we going to do about him, father?" Hissed the young female, eyes narrowed with hostility.

"I... I'm just..." but Roberto's voice stuck in his throat. He could barely speak. The male seemed to know this, for he laughed, in amusement. He turned to the female.

"Daughter dear, let me show you how to deal with a Spix's macaw, especially one so stupid as this one." The male suddenly swooped on Roberto, claws outstretched, letting out a powerful squawk as he did. Roberto shrieked loudly, in terror, before folding his wings and plunging down through the tree canopy. Panic hit him as he realized that the Hyacinths were following him, and even more panic rose as he saw that the treetops were seconds way. He tried to open his wings, but cried out in fear. If was as though they were tied down - now that he'd folded them, they felt as heavy as a bag of rocks. He was hurtling through space, unable to pull out of his dive, as the trees rushed closer.

Roberto managed to throw out his wings at the last moment, stopping his plunge, but then he realized he could barely flap them. He floundered down, hitting branches and leaves as he fell. They ripped at him without mercy, slashing at his ears and eyes, and he cried out, trying to hold up his wings to shield his face. Roberto finally crashed through the canopy, feeling vines brush swiftly past him. Roberto seized a vine, but didn't stop - he sped down it, not getting a grip until he was hanging off the end. He hung there, gasping for breath, the world spinning around him. The forest floor lay over ten feet below, a stream trickling almost directly below him. But then Roberto froze as the branch holding the vine shuddered.

The large male Hyacinth perched there, with his daughter at his side. The male had his talon on the vine end, a mocking grin on his face. Roberto stared, praying that they weren't going to do what he thought they would. The male's twisted grin only widened at the look on Roberto's face. Then he spoke, in a cold voice that terrified him. "Kerja, would you like to do the honours?" Roberto stared pleadingly at the young adult female, silently begging for mercy, but he saw no honour or pity in her grey expression. All he saw was sheer delight, arrogance, and a hint of madness.

"I'd be privileged, father." Kerja laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world. In the blink of an eye, her beak had closed around the vine - then Roberto was hurtling toward the forest floor, shrieking in fear as the two Hyacinths laughed above, finding this incredibly amusing. Then pain shot through his back as he landed hard on some unforgiving pebbles. He was briefly frozen, stunned, but then he felt the agony. Roberto struggled to breathe, every breath sending a shooting pain through his back and lungs. Roberto heard the murmur of the stream close to his ears, felt the water pulling gently at his tail and wing feathers, but couldn't summon the energy to rise. Far above, he heard the two Hyacinths, still roaring with laughter. The female stopped laughing briefly, only to giggle between words as she spoke. "Let's leave him now, father - let the leeches find him."

As the sound of Jorge and Kerja's heavy wing beats faded from his ears, Roberto felt exhaustion and pain sink into his muscles and core. His heart thudded, his breath rattled in his chest; he was exhausted, so much so that it was causing him pain. Agonizing pain. He lay there, motionless on the river bank, trying to summon the energy to rise. He should get away from the edge; the water was already submerging half his wings and tail. But he was too exhausted to care, so he continued to lie still, the mud seeping through his feathers and to his skin. As his vision began to blacken, Roberto thought he saw something moving in the ferns. Something fast was darting through them - coming closer and than retreating again. There was a flash of pale cerulean in the corner of his eye. Delirious, he raised his head, shaking from the effort of something so simple.

A pair of enormous turquoise eyes, the blue of a butterfly's wing, were watching him from the shadows of the ferns. Bright, and filled with curiosity and concern. He knew he had seen them before. He tried to speak, but too late. The form revealed itself as his vision grew blurry, calling to somebody as it did - hadn't he heard that name before? But before his mind could identify the owner of the name, his chin sank onto the pebbles, as he began to lose consciousness. As more forms approached through the ferns and a small pair of talons dragged him out of the water and the mud, he fell into the world of his dreams.

 _ **Yes, that Kerja is the very one from The Estrella! I love a good cameo.**_


	14. Waking in another world

It must have been a few hours after Roberto had lost consciousness, for when his eyes slid open, it was dark. Silver shafts of moonshine streaked the edges of his blurry vision. He was immediately confused when he realized that he was no longer on the hard pebbles, or in the mud; instead, he was nestled in something soft and comfortable, with no water to submerge his wings. He sensed somebody at his side; a few, actually. They were whispering worriedly, and he knew he'd heard their voices before.

Briefly, he wondered if he had died and Alessandra, Ramon and Talitha were here to take him to the other side. But then he realized that he was in pain. His mother had told him that was no pain in the next life - only comfort and joy. He groaned, and struggled to rise, before he felt a calming pressure on his shoulder, a gentle voice advising him to lie still. The voice was soft, with a slight hint of the typical Brazilian accent - it sounded like his mother's. It was musical and silvery, that of a singer. Despite the comfort the voice offered, Roberto didn't want to lie still - he wanted to know where he was, so he shifted, struggling to sit up, and heard the voice sigh.

"I told him to lie still. He might have a concussion, he's been out for almost eight hours..." something cool touched his forehead, and he felt waterdrops trickle down his face. Roberto coughed, his throat feeling dry, as he realized that thirst was scratching like Esmeralda's claws on a cabinet side. He had almost forgotten where he was - he was never going to see that cat again. Who was with him now? He struggled to remember.

"Are you sure it's been eight?" Said another voice - he knew that one, too. He dared to pry open his eyes. Two forms swam in his vision, one cerulean and one almost midnight blue. The cerulean form was shorter and plumper than the midnight blue; Roberto struggled to remember who they were. His brain refused to work.

"It has, I'm sure it has." Roberto saw the darker blue female's beak moving, realizing that she was the one who had spoken with the Brazilian-hinted voice, the one who his mother had attacked.

"I suppose it must be. Sorry, I'm terrible at telling time, Tia." The other female sighed. Roberto was incredibly confused, and had no idea where he was.

"Where..." Roberto tried to rise, but a swarm of pain washed over him. He practically collapsed back into the moss, and felt fatigue come rushing back. Too tired and confused to stay awake, he let sleep consume him once again.

 _Dawn_

"Mom, Dad, Mimi, why isn't he awake yet? He's been asleep for hours!" A girl's voice awoke Roberto. He stirred, and opened his eyes, to find himself facing the inside of a hollow wall. He blinked, not recognizing his surroundings, but didn't roll over to face the direction of voices. He knew that voice, didn't he?

"He'll wake up whenever he needs to, Jewel." Said a male voice he didn't recognize. There was the scuffle of talons on the floor as someone walked across it. "Now, come along - I've got the dawn patrol. That Jorge and Kerja were hanging around the border yet again, and that Rojo was seen last night, acting shifty. Nothing serious, Jacinta said, but still. Jewel, Manuela and Sophia are waiting for you outside."

Roberto didn't recognize those names, but he knew Jewel and Jorge - and Jorge's daughter, Kerja. He stiffened at the memory of seeing Kerja snap the vine, seeing both her and Jorge - presumably that was the name of her father. He definitely knew who Jewel was - the chick he had encountered a few weeks ago. He remembered her turquoise eyes, the ones he'd seen before losing consciousness. Had she been the one to drag him out of that mud and water?

Roberto waited for the sound of talons and voices to fade before daring to move. He shifted, slowly managing to sit up, shaking his head. He felt a dull pain radiating throughout his head and back, but it wasn't as bad as it had been a few hours before. He looked around the hollow. It was cool and dark, the floor covered in soft moss that felt springy under his talons. A couple of feathers were strewn in some nesting a few feet away - dark blue and lighter blues. He had thought that the hollow was empty, but then he froze as the moss curtain - some draping moss covering the entrance - was thrown open.

"- I can't stand Zenaida, Tia. I mean, Sophia's such a lovely child, but I can't imagine how such a sweet girl hatched from an egg laid by someone so -" Mimi stopped, blinking in surprise at the sight of Roberto.

"- who cares if Zenaida made a comment about your head feathers? They look _fine-"_ Tia appeared beside Mimi, but upon seeing Roberto, also stopped.

Briefly dazed, he shook his head, before his eyes adjusted to the new contrast of light. He looked up, trying to ignore the ache in his head. He recognized them instantly - the two females he had heard last night, the ones he had run into a few weeks ago. Tia, with the midnight blue, glossy feathers, and the blue eyes that were similar to Jewel's, as he remembered her; now that he got a closer, longer look at them, they looked more green-tinted than her daughter's. Several wavy feathers fell from the back of her head, almost touching her shoulders. Mimi was at her side - her feathers were much lighter, her eyes entirely blue. She had lavender eyelids, with the short, curly feathers on the top of her head. They were exactly as how he remembered them to be. They looked surprised to see him standing.

"Good morning." Said Tia, eventually, smiling at him - Roberto blinked in confusion. He tried to walk forwards, but only lurched forward as a wave of pain washed over him - he had been lying still for so long, he had surprised his body by moving so fast.

"Careful!" Mimi warned, running forward to support him. "You had a nasty fall, according to our Jewel."

 _Fall?_ Roberto's thoughts swam with confusion, before he remembered. He looked at them, wondering if they remembered who he was. Tia blinked with sympathy. "Yes, Jewel saw you fall. What happened, darling? Where's your mother? Not going to attack me again, is she?" Tia and Mimi both chuckled in amusement. He looked up at them blankly. They did recognize him - but they didn't know what had happened.

"She's dead." He said, quietly. Tia and Mimi's chuckles abruptly cut off, and their eyes filled with horror, guilt and shock. They stared at him, mortified at laughing before learning something so tragic.

"Oh, sweetie. We're so sorry, we had no idea." Tia apologized, quietly. She looked him up and down with a concerned and pitied look. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Roberto lied. He could tell that Tia and Mimi knew he wasn't telling the truth, as they exchanged worried looks. He wasn't fine - he was shattered, still. He shook his head. "Where am I?" He asked, quietly, feeling dreadful as he remembered what had happened. He prayed that Tia and Mimi wouldn't pry him for details of what had happened to his family - to his relief, they didn't ask about Alessandra. They could tell he didn't want to talk about it.

"You're in our tribe ravine." Mimi answered, gently. Roberto looked up in surprise, remembering what his parents had told him about tribe macaws; but Alessandra had been wrong, hadn't she? Tia and Mimi were kind - surely the tribe was the same? Roberto got out of the nest, ignoring his protesting muscles and Tia and Mimi's warnings. He stumbled for the entrance, and, desperate to see where he was, pulled the moss curtain that cloaked the entrance aside.

Roberto froze with awe at the sight before him. The sun beamed down from the bright blue sky, casting golden light onto the dense trees. But this wasn't the best part - the waterfall was. The plumes of water cascaded into a plunge pool, the sunlight hitting the spray and sending tiny rainbows dancing through the water droplets. Green dapples were tossed across the plunge pool surface; Giant Amazon Waterlilies. He'd always loved the sound of them - Talitha had described them to him. From here, he could see some chicks close to his age throwing themselves onto the pads, skidding across the water surface - even some adults were joining in the fun.

Roberto then looked into the trees, and his heart almost stopped. The tree line was speckled with countless blue birds; flitting from one tree to the next, plucking fruit, or chatting. Even more birds were scattered across the cliffs, which he suspected had clay. His species - never had he seen so many in one place. "How many are there?" He asked, in awe.

"There's never been a formal count, but Eduardo estimates a minimum of one hundred and fifty." Said Mimi, proudly. Roberto was shaken by this number. And that was only an minimum.

"Who's Eduardo?" He then asked, turning to look quizzically at Mimi.

"He's our tribe leader, my younger brother." Mimi answered. She then looked up at Tia with a smile. "And Tia's other half, and Jewel's father. Don't worry, he's not scary at all. He's a big softie, really."

"Just make sure you don't ruffle his feathers, metaphorically." Tia advised, with a laugh. "When he's angry, he's angry. Anyway - we never learned your name."

"Roberto." He replied.

"Roberto? That's a lovely name - in fact, it means 'shining fame.'" Mimi said, while Tia rolled her eyes in amusement.

"If you ever need the meaning of a name, Mimi is the one to ask. Oh, I have to ask - what is that around your ankle?" Roberto jolted and almost fainted there and then. He looked down, eyes wide, but then felt relief. The ring was no longer white with black sprawl - it was brown. He frowned, and then remembered that he had fallen into the mud. Tia and Mimi couldn't see what lay beneath. Quickly, he thought of the most logical sounding lie.

"I got caught in a trap once... I've tried everything, but it won't come off." He lied. As nice as they were, he didn't trust Tia and Mimi to keep his secret. Not wanting them to ask about his 'souvenir', he hastily reached down and pulled it up his leg, as far as it would go, under the feathers of his upper thigh. He was surprised - why hadn't he thought of the idea before? It was like it wasn't even there. He ruffled his feathers, and looked up at Tia and Mimi. He didn't have another choice; he had no family left. Where else could he find love and protection? "I have no where to go... can I stay with your tribe? Maybe..." He looked outside, seeing the beautiful view, the friendly-looking macaws. He hesitated briefly, before reaching a decision. "Maybe join it?" He looked back at them hopefully. To his surprise, they were nodding and smiling to show their response.

"Of course you can, honey." Tia assured him. Roberto was relieved; he had been afraid that the tribe wouldn't accept a stranger. "Mimi and I will show you around, and then we'll sort out where you're going to sleep - then you can go and find some friends. You'll have no trouble, the kids are very friendly. If you'd like, you can stay here for as long as you want, and when you're older, you can find yourself a nice tree." Tia glanced outside. "Before we show you around, why don't you clean yourself up? There's some water behind you - we'll wait outside." At this, Roberto realized that half his face and body were brown with dried mud. He flushed with embarrassment, while Tia and Mimi stepped outside.

Turning, he spotted the water Tia had mentioned - sitting in multiple coconut shells, lined up against the wall. Roberto then set to work cleaning away the dirt and mud that was stuck on his feathers - it felt so good to be clean again. He picked up another shell, this time to look at his reflection. He struggled to make out his outline, before giving up. He probably looked fine. He approached the moss curtain at last, feeling nervous. He paused. Would his family approve of him joining a tribe, after all the efforts they had gone through to keep him away from the very idea?

If they were watching him now, maybe he could prove them wrong. He could show them that a tribe would've been the best option - maybe he could flourish here. Taking a deep breath, Roberto threw open the moss curtain, and stepped outside.


	15. First friendships

Roberto followed Tia and Mimi, struggling to keep up, for his wings ached after his long flight yesterday. He refused to show his pain, not wanting Tia and Mimi to stop or pity him. And he wanted to make a good impression - he didn't want his new tribemates to think him as some helpless chick. He definitely wanted to make the kids think that he was worth befriending.

As they flew across the glass-like surface of the plunge pool, Roberto tried to listen to Tia and Mimi as well as catch a glimpse of his reflection - they were detailing the tribe customs, how mud was used as camouflage to avoid being seen by dangers, and how to treat another tribemate. But he was distracted by the thought of his reflection. He hadn't seen it in ages; what if his face had changed? He had certainly grown taller since his capture, and the feathers on his head had grown much longer. When he finally saw his reflection, he felt a wave of surprise. He _had_ changed.

He could see his father and mother in him - he had his father's head feathers, for sure, add his face features. While his eyes weren't the sea-green of his mother's or sister's, he had the same eye shape as them. Another thing he had in common with Alessandra was his feather hue - darker than Ramon and Talitha, except for the fact that Alesaandra had a hint of teal, which he didn't have.

"-The tribe dance is called 'Beautiful Creatures' - it's terrific fun." Mimi's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "It was invented by another group, one Tia grew up in - and when they joined the main tribe, we adopted it."

"What do you mean, another group?" He asked, puzzled. Tia glanced at Mim.

"You'll find out the tale soon - the other kids'll probably tell you. It's Jewel's favourite story, mostly because me, Eduardo and Mimi are part of it." Curiosity filled Roberto, as he wondered about this story. Before he could ask, Tia spoke again. "The dance certainly is fun. Females carry yellow flowers and decorate themselves in yellow pollen, while males do the same with red fruit paint. If there's a happy occasion, it'll be done - say we win a portion of territory, or make peace with another tribe - it'll happen. When Jewel was born, we had a dance, too. Everyone teaches the song to their chicks - we'll teach you the song, too, at some point." Tia then glanced up at the waterfall. "Our ravine was carved out by that." She explained. "There's a cave behind it."

"A cave?" Roberto repeated, in wonder.

"Yes, a cave." Mimi nodded. "If our tribe is ever at risk of attack, eggs and vulnerable birds, such as elderly and chicks, are hidden within it." At Roberto's look of alarm, she rushed to reassure him. "Don't worry, dear! There hasn't been an attack in the ravine since I was a teenager..." Mimi paused, and then sighed.

"It's also where..." Tia began. Her voice faltered. "Whenever a tribe member dies, their name gets carved into the wall. It keeps their memory alive, pays tribute to their lives. And Roberto..." She looked at him, with sympathy. "If you wanted to carve your mother's or any family member's name, please feel free to do it." Roberto blinked at her, feeling numb, before managing a small nod. He would.

"Well, then." Mimi said, trying to sound bright, so to sweep away the sombre atmosphere. "If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. You can return to Tia and Eduardo's hollow whenever you want, but don't leave the ravine or surrounding tree grove unattended. You don't know where our borders are. There's three other tribes living directly on our hollow entrance step - the Hyacinths, who never come into contact with us unless they want something; the very peaceful Blue-and-Golds, who are absolutely wonderful; and the Scarlet and Green-Winged tribe, simplified into the 'Red tribe.'" Mimi looked darkly at Tia. "It's been very tense over there as of recent, so I'd recommend caution."

"There's also other tribes of other species, but they're scattered across the Amazon." Tia added. "You're unlikely to encounter those. We'll show you the borders you need to consider some other time... meanwhile, Mimi and I must get along to a meeting, about something. As for you -" she turned brightly to Roberto, as Mimi hurried her away, insisting that they were already late for their meeting. "Go explore the ravine, and the tree grove around it. Make friends!" Tia finally turned away, and hurried after Mimi. "Okay, okay, I'm coming!"

Roberto was left there, hovering in confusion, before a smile formed on his face. He had so much to discover and explore in the ravine, and the grove around it - he remembered Mimi mentioning the surrounding grove being where the tribe spent much of the day. _Make friends._ Tia's words repeated in his head.

Roberto looked around the ravine, wondering where to begin. Most trees were inhabited - he'd have to be careful not to intrude on occupied ones. That'd be embarrassing and rude of him. As he hovered, distant voices reached his ears. "Hey! Over here!" He looked around, wondering if they were directed at him; he'd have to locate them to find out. Then, finally, his gaze found them. A group of chicks around his age were waving frantically, clearly trying to grab his attention - four of them. Curious, Roberto swerved, and made a beeline for them. He did his best to hide his nerves.

Roberto finally reached them, lighting down before them. A group of four, a male and three females. One female ran forward, bouncing slightly. "Hi!" She said, brightly - Roberto, at first, thought he was facing a younger version of Tia, but then he recognized her. "Remember me?" She asked, teasingly. "I ran into you before, didn't I?" It was Jewel - the girl he had encountered weeks ago, the one who had pulled him out of the stream yesterday. She was the spitting image of Tia - only she had bluer eyes, lighter feathers, and her head feathers were a little shorter, flicking up at the ends, while Tia's were wavy throughout.

"Jewel said she saw you fall!" Exclaimed the male. He had light blue feathers, brown eyes, and a stack of sloping head feathers. He spoke eagerly. "What happened?" Roberto paused, considering how much he should tell them, before shaking his head.

"I... I'd rather not talk about it." Roberto admitted - he didn't want to ruin his chances of friendship. Jewel looked sympathetic and understanding, before fluffing up her feathers, which had gone flat from a breeze.

"Fair enough. What's your name?" She beamed at him. "I'm Jewel. This is Carlos -" she nodded to the male who'd spoken before. She then turned to a dark blue female, who was gazing at Carlos. "This is Manuela." Manuela jumped, turning at the sound of her name, before smiling at Roberto. "And this is Sophia."

Roberto turned to look at the last one. She was young and petite, with large, dark blue eyes. She was nearly the same shade of blue as Roberto, but she had a periwinkle tint within her plumage. There was a long flick of feathers falling from the back of her head. Roberto blinked, briefly captured by the intensity of her pretty eyes; he suddenly felt his cheeks grow warm as she gave him a small, shy smile. "Hi." Sophia said, continuing to smile at him.

"H-" Roberto coughed to disguise his stammer; he was so nervous around these new macaws. "Hello," he began, doing his best to sound confident. "I'm Roberto." The eyes of the other kids sparkled as they absorbed this information.

"Well, Roberto -" Manuela began, looking toward the ravine entrance. "Do you want to come outside with us? We were going to see the Amazon River Dolphin pod!" Roberto tipped his head to the side, unsure.

"Isn't that really far away?" He asked, remembering what Tia and Mimi had said about not wandering too far.

"No, it's just five minutes away!" Carlos shook his head. "Besides, it's really fun! Jewel's parents always visit the dolphins, it's perfectly safe. We've been loads of times." Roberto was tempted by the offer, weighing up the possibilities; it would really help him get some friends, and he'd always loved the sound of river dolphins.

"Izzy, Tobi!" Manuela then called, getting up and flying across the ravine, toward two other chicks. "We're going to see the dolphins - do you want to come with us?"

"By the way, that's Isabella and Tobias." Jewel said, turning to him. "We give each other nicknames - mine's Ju-Ju, Sophia's is Soph, Carlos doesn't have one because he thinks Los is weird and Carlie sounds female, Manuela doesn't like nicknames -" Manuela was wrinkling her beak and shaking her head. "And Isabella and Tobias are Izzy and Tobi." Jewel then giggled excitedly. "Do you want a nickname, Roberto?"

"A nickname?" That would be fun. At first he wondered what nickname he could possibly have; but then Roberto remembered Taiitha. His heart panged as he remembered how she would fondly call him 'Beto'. "I guess... Beto."

"That's cute." Sophia giggled, and Roberto blushed under his feathers.

"They said they don't want to go." Manuela's disappointed voice returned, as she landed beside Carlos. "Shall we go?"

"Sounds -" Roberto began, but then the group of chicks jumped out of their skins, for a barking voice shot through their ears. Sophia groaned as she heard that it was her name.

"Sophia!" The voice came from a tree hollow directly above their heads. A female macaw was leaning out of the entrance, an older male chick who was bordering on teenager age beside her. The female was older than the average mother, with pale golden eyes; her feathers were similar in colour to Sophia, without the periwinkle tint. A scar parted the feathers of the right side of her neck and the area under her eyes were grey with fatigue, but despite this, she held a look of elegance, like Sophia did. A look of discontent and worry plagued her face. The boy beside her was, by far, the most miserable looking macaw Roberto had seen. He had amber eyes; Roberto shivered, thinking of Esmeralda. He wore a storm for a facial expression, as he glared down at Sophia. "Come here, now!" The female barked.

Sophia looked at her talons, in disappointment. "Bye, guys." She mumbled, glumly, before flying up into the hollow. Zenaida retreated into the nest, while Jespa waited until Sophia followed her inside. Roberto watched her go - he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that she had to go. He froze when Jespa looked down at him, with utter displeasure, before turning and disappearing into the nest.

"That's Sophia's mom, Zenaida." Manuela said, frowning upwards. "And her older brother, Jespa."

"Who's her father?" He asked, curiously, but the others looked solemn.

"He's dead." Jewel said, softly. Roberto stared, shocked, but Jewel went on before he could ask. "Sophia was very young at the time - she was only a few weeks old, not even that. You see, there had been rumours that Zenaida was having an affair, and this turned out to be true. One night he and Zenaida began arguing with each other, and then this turned into a full-blown fight. It went outside the hollow - then the whole tribe was woken to the sound of Zenaida screaming. She was going hysterical, and then it turned out he injured his wing and fell off the branch. It was tragic - Sophia saw it happen, and, although Sophia denies it, we're sure Jespa blames _her."_

"Why would he blame her?" Roberto asked, bewildered.

"Well, he never saw it happen, but there's no evidence to say that this was nothing other than an accident. Jespa's never been right in the head, anyway..." Carlos mentioned. "He's creepy. He doesn't talk to anyone and he probably wouldn't lose a wink of sleep if something happened to Sophia."

"Okay, let's not be mean about Jespa." Manuela insisted. "Come on, enough of the pessimism. Should we see these dolphins or what?"

As Carlos, Manuela and Jewel sprang into flight, Roberto looked back at Zenaida's hollow, hoping for another glimpse of Sophia, but the entrance remained empty. He felt a tinge of sadness; he really wanted to get to know her. She seemed so nice, and he felt sorry for her, for losing her father; he knew how that felt. He was sure he'd definitely talk to her again.

"Hey!" Chortled Jewel. "Are you coming, Beto?" Roberto turned around, realizing that he was still on the branch, while the other three were halfway across the plunge pool. Quickly, he flew to catch up with them.


	16. A new home

Everything seemed to be tinted in golden light, as Roberto followed Jewel, Carlos, and Manuela through the trees. They had flown through the grove of trees that some Spix's macaws chose to spend the day or live in, rather than the ones within the ravine, and Roberto had recieved a warm welcome from everyone they passed. News had spread about the newest addition to the tribe, and this news had been well recieved. Roberto was relieved; he had expected them to be less willing to accept him. He had also noticed several female chicks giggling whenever he looked at them; he felt quite embarrassed. Manuela had eyes only for Carlos, while Jewel didn't look at him in that giggly way other girls had. He was thankful for this - he didn't like the idea of every female chick giggling about him.

Up ahead, his new friends were in intense conversation - they were talking about dancing moves. Roberto's heart skipped; he loved to dance. "Have you seen my move? I can dance in midflight _and_ the ground." Carlos did a complicated, fancy-looking roll in the air.

"That's an acrobatic move, not dance!" Manuela teased, and Carlos swerved, straight toward her - Manuela giggled and dodged him, and before Roberto knew it, the pair were darting about, Carlos chasing Manuela playfully, who laughed and kept evading him. Jewel let out a musical burst of laughter, before turning his way and fluffing up her plumage in mock hostility. Roberto blinked, before realizing that she was initiating a playfight.

Roberto's feathers bushed up, and he let out a playful squawk. Jewel darted forward like a flash, surprising him. Her talons cuffed his wing as she passed him, and Roberto whirled around, following in pursuit. Jewel laughed, flying straight up, catching him by surprise, but as he looked up, her talons scuffed him on the shoulder from behind. Jewel was so fast; all he saw was a cerulean blur whenever he turned his head. Roberto whirled around, and flew straight at her. Jewel spun round and flew into the trees, and Roberto squawked happily, diving into the leaves, but as he emerged on the other side, he crashed straight into something solid. He slowly looked up, and hovered there, afraid of the tower of a bird.

A large male Spix's macaw looked down at him, with pale green eyes. Short feathers stuck up on his head, something that reminded him of the word 'military'; he looked very soldier-like. He was very intimidating to look at, with sharp claws on each toe. Roberto froze, reminded of Jorge, that terrifying Hyacinth. But then, to his surprise, Jewel popped up from behind the macaw's shoulder, giggling. "Roberto, this is my dad - Eduardo."

Roberto was immediately surprised. He hardly saw any resemblance between Jewel and Eduardo - the only noticeable similarity was their feather lightness, for Tia was so much darker than Jewel. "Really? You don't look anything alike..."

"Well, she makes up for it with her temper and sharp words, like me." Said Eduardo, jokingly, but Jewel glared at him, confirming that she indeed had a short fuse. The irritance quickly melted away, however.

"Dad, Roberto was the kid I found in the stream!" Jewel exclaimed, looking very proud of herself. "Oh, you were there... I forgot." She looked at her talons in embarrassment. "Anyway, we're going to see the dolphins! Bye!" She turned and dashed for the trees, but didn't get away fast enough.

"Woah, woah, what do you think you're doing, young lady?" Eduardo called, frowning, and Jewel stopped. She sighed.

"Dad, it's fine. I'm perfectly capable of going without adult supervision!" Jewel grumbled. "Besides, I'll have Roberto, and Carlos and Manuela with me, if those two haven't gotten occupied with chasing each other!" Eduardo narrowed his eyes, wondering whether to trust his daughter to be safe without an adult.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine!" Roberto assured Eduardo. "See you later!" He turned and dived into the leaves, the rustling telling him that Jewel was following - they wanted to get away before Eduardo changed his mind and decided to go with them. Once he was sure they were out of earshot, he looked over his shoulder, laughing. "That's your dad? He's scary!"

"Oh, like Aunt Mimi says, he's a big softie." Jewel rolled her eyes. "Everybody thinks he's intimidating, but he's not really. My mom told me he used to be really shy, when they met as teenagers." Jewel was looking around as she flew, multitasking as she spoke and looked for Carlos and Manuela, who were giggling from the leaves as they continued to play, in their own blissful world. "Did mom and Mimi tell you about the Red tribe?"

"A little." Roberto shrugged. "Not an awful lot..."

"Well, they're horrible. The only nice one me and mom encountered was the matriarch, Perlina. She's gone missing, actually - every Red macaw is looking for her. Since she's gone, they say the tensions are only going to get worse..." Jewel looked around, as if expecting some Red macaws to come charging from the bushes. "Their patriarch, Rojo, is just as bad as Jorge from the Hyacinths - he's vile, and his son, Felipe, apparently isn't much better." Jewel glanced to the west, which Roberto presumed was the direction of the Red territory. "I'd be careful. Felipe is always lurking about the Brazil nut grove with his friends, you can't miss him - green eyes, Scarlet macaw, straight-ish head feathers. I'd recommend avoiding it altogether, if I'm honest."

"I'll watch out." Roberto promised, keeping the description in mind. "Anyway, isn't that the river?" He could see a glistening through the trees. Jewel looked ahead, before she began nodding.

"That's it! Carlos, Manuela!" She flew into the trees, headed for the sound of their voices. Assuming she would assume he'd be there, Roberto flew ahead for the river. Then, there it was - like a basking snake, it glistened in the sunlight. The water, blue as it reflected the azure sky, flowed lazily, looking incredibly clean and sweet, nothing like the brown, litter-strewn water he'd seen around the harbour in Manaus. Roberto glided close to the surface, ensuring that no piranhas, water snakes or alligators were lurking beneath it. Once he was sure it was safe, he dropped his talons down, until his toes were gliding through the water. Roberto almost cried out in happiness at the feeling of the pure water he'd missed so much.

Then something pale was beneath him, and Roberto snatched his talons away, startled - but then he heard the laughter of his new friends. "Nice one, Roberto! They must like you - it takes us ages to coax them to the surface!" Manuela streaked past him as a river dolphin broke the surface, sailing inches away from Roberto's wing. As Carlos and Jewel swept past him, more dolphins came leaping, whistling as they did. Roberto felt an almost goofy smile come to his face, and he couldn't help but laugh as he got sprayed by a dolphin. The heaviness that had rested on his heart since the destruction of his birthplace had melted away.

 _Later_

It had been several hours since Roberto had played with his new friends and the dolphins; the moon was up, and the sky was onyx black. The sky was so clear here - there were so many more stars here than in Manaus. They seemed so much brighter, like ice shards. Roberto, unable to sleep, had spent several hours of the night outside the hollow - he was staying with Eduardo, Tia and Jewel until he was old enough to live on his own.

Roberto sat at the foot of the rock wall, the waterfall roaring in the background, scanning the names that had been carved over so many years. Silver moonshine streamed in through the entrance, illuminating every name. There were dozens - so many tribe members who had left the world, their names immortalized in stone. Some older names had worn away, Mimi had said, but they were always recarved. Roberto ran his wingtips across the wall, smooth except for the carved letters. He swore he heard murmurings throughout the cave; laughter, singing. His family's voices were among them, he was sure. There it was, the wave of pain crashing down upon him.

 _Ramon. Alessandra. Talitha._ The names lay there, inches from his face. Roberto had been crying there for some time, every letter he carved like claws in his heart. Wiping his damp cheeks, Roberto's tear-blurred vision cleared. "Even if the sun returns to shine on my life... it won't be as bright as before, because it shines on a world without you." He said, meaning every word. "I miss my dad's stories, my mom's voice. I miss my sister's games." His wingtips rested on Talitha's name. A small part of him clung to the hope that she was alive, but he couldn't know for sure.

Roberto blinked away tears. He would always remember his family, each and every day, for the rest of his life. He'd see them in his dreams, tell his own chicks about the grandparents and aunt they would never meet. He was going to make his family proud. He wrapped his wings around his knees, and sat there for some time, never taking his eyes off Ramon, Alessandra, and Talitha's names.

"Roberto, sweetie, what time is it?" Said a groggy voice. He turned his head, and saw Tia silhouetted against the entrance. Her left cheek feathers were squashed from leaning against the wall as she slept, her plumage ruffled and fluffy from sleep, her eyes half-shut from fatigue. Seeing the carving stone at his talons, she immediately stopped rubbing her tired eyes. She knew why he was here. "Are you okay?" She asked, gently, reading the names he had added to the wall.

"Yes. I'm okay." Roberto rose to his talons. "I'll be back in a minute." Tia hesitated, wondering whether to stay or go, before nodding.

"Alright, then. Good night, Roberto." Tia gave him a comforting smile, before turning and flying out through the waterfall spray. Roberto looked back at the wall, his wing still resting on the stone. He dragged his wing across the names, reluctant to leave them - then he finally pulled his wing away, and made for the exit, his heart lightening at the sight of the water-lily scattered plunge pool. Before he made for Eduardo and Tia's tree, he took a final look at the names on the wall. This painful part of his life was over.

 _ **What a relief - I'm so glad this rewrite has been more successful than the original. Now, as I said, facts here do not match up with 'Before Jewel Met Blu' - I will rewrite that too, in future. For my next story, we're visiting Roberto once more in the love story of him and Sophia, taking place between the events of Rio 2 and The Outcast - you've already met her mother and brother, but we haven't seen the last of them.**_

 _ **Thank you, and see you all soon!**_

 _ **\- Love, Sorrel**_


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